JULIA  FRANCE 

AND    HER     TIMES 
GERTRUDE  ATHERTON 


JULIA    FRANCE   AND    HER   TIMES 


BY   MRS.   ATHERTON 

THE  CONQUEROR 

A  FEW  OF  HAMILTON'S  LETTERS 

ANCESTORS 

THE  GORGEOUS  ISLE 

RULERS  OF  KINGS 

THE  ARISTOCRATS 

THE  TRAVELLING   THIRDS 

THE   BELL   IN   THE   FOG 

PATIENCE  SPARHAWK   AND   HER  TIMES 

SENATOR   NORTH 

HIS  FORTUNATE  GRACE 

TOWER  OF   IVORY 

CALIFORNIA  SERIES 

REZANOV 

THE  DOOMSWOMAN 

THE   SPLENDID    IDLE   FORTIES 

A  DAUGHTER  OF  THE  VINE 

THE  CALIFORN1ANS 

AMERICAN    WIVES   AND   ENGLISH    HUSBANDS 

A   WHIRL  ASUNDER 

THE  VALIANT   RUNAWAYS  (A   BOOK    FOR    BOYS) 


JULIA   FRANCE   AND 
HER   TIMES 


A    NOVEL 


BY 

GERTRUDE    ATHERTON 

•I 


tfrto  gorit 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1912 

AU  rigkU  rtttrv«4 


COPYRIGHT,  1912, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  April,  1912       Reprinted 
April,  June,  July,  December,  1912 


J.  8.  Cushln*  Co.  —  Ilerwlok  A  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TO 

MRS.    FISKE 


S)30SC3 


CONTENTS 


BOOK    I 

PACK 

MRS.  EDIS ' i 

BOOK   II 
THREE  POTTERS •       •       •       •      59 

BOOK   III 
HAROLD  FRANCE •       .    191 

BOOK   IV 
HADJI  SADRA .        •        .    273 

BOOK   V 
DANIEL  TAY 361 

BOOK   VI 
FANNY        •••••••••.*.    453 


BOOK  I 
MRS.  EDIS 


THE  entrance  of  a  British  cruiser  into  the  harbor  of 
St.  Kitts  was  always  followed  by  a  ball  at  Government  House 
in  the  little  capital  of  Basse  Terre.  To-night  there  was  a 
squadron  of  three  at  anchor ;  therefore  was  the  entertain 
ment  offered  by  the  island's  President  even  more  tempting 
than  common,  and  hospitality  had  been  extended  to  the 
officials  and  distinguished  families  of  the  neighboring  islands, 
Nevis,  Antigua,  and  Monserrat.  On  Nevis  there  remained 
but  one  family  of  eminence,  that  great  rock  having  been 
shorn  long  since  of  all  but  its  imperishable  beauty. 

But  Mrs.  Edis  of  "  Great  House,"  an  old  stone  mansion 
unaffected  by  time,  earthquake,  or  hurricane,  and  surrounded 
by  a  remnant  of  one  of  the  oldest  estates  in  the  West  Indies, 
was  still  a  personage  in  spite  of  her  fallen  fortunes,  and  to 
night  she  contributed  a  young  daughter.  The  introduction 
of  Julia  Edis  to  society  had  been  expected  all  winter  as 
she  was  several  months  past  eighteen,  and  the  President  had 
offered  her  a  birthday  f£te ;  but  Mrs.  Edis,  with  whom  no 
man  was  so  hardy  as  to  argue,  had  replied  that  her  daughter 
should  enter  "the  world"  at  the  auspicious  moment  and  not 
before.  This  was  taken  to  mean  one  of  two  things :  either 
that  in  good  time  a  squadron  would  arrive  with  potential 
husbands,  or  (but  this,  of  course,  was  mere  frivolous  gossip) 
when  the  planets  proclaimed  the  hour  of  destiny.  For  more 
than  thirty  years  Mrs.  Edis  had  been  suspected  of  dabbling 
in  the  black  arts,  incited  originally  by  an  old  Creole  from 
Martinique,  grandson  of  the  woman  who  so  accurately  cast 
the  horoscope  of  Josephine.  For  the  last  eighteen  of  these 
years  it  had  been  whispered  among  the  birds  in  the  high 
palm  trees  that  a  not  unsimilar  destiny  awaited  Julia  Edis. 

Therefore,  when  the  word  ran  round  the  great  ball-room 
of  Government  House  that  the  big  officer  with  the  heavy 

3 


4  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

mustache  and  curiously  hard,  shallow  eyes,  who  had  pur 
sued  the  debutante  .from  the  moment  she  entered  with  her 
fearsome  mother,  ,was,.KarQld  France,  heir  presumptive  to 
a  dukedom,  whose  present  incumbent  was  sickly  and  un 
married,  the  dowager  pack  (dressed  for  the  most  part  in  the 
thick  old  silks  and  "real  lace"  of  the  mid- Victorian  period) 
crystallized  the  whisper  for  the  first  time  and  condescended 
to  an  interest  in  astrology. 

"But  it  would  be  odd,"  said  the  wife  of  the  President,  "al 
though  I,  for  one,  neither  believe  in  that  absurd  old  science, 
nor  that  there  ever  was  any  basis  for  the  story.  No  doubt 
it  originated  with  the  blacks,  who  love  any  superstition." 

"Ah  !"  said  the  wife  of  the  Magistrate,  "but  it  is  curious 
that  the  blacks  on  Nevis,  led  by  the  Obi  doctors,  besieged 
Great  House  for  a  night,  some  twenty  years  ago.  In  the 
morning  they  were  driven  off  by  Mrs.  Edis  herself,  a  whip  in 
one  hand  and  a  pistol  in  the  other.  She  handled  the  situa 
tion  alone,  for  Mr.  Edis  was  a  —  ill  —  as  usual." 

"Drunk,"  said  the  blunter  lady  of  quality.  "And  so 
were  the  blacks.  By  dawn  they  were  sober,  sick,  and 
flaccid.  A  woman  of  ordinary  resolution  could  have  dis 
persed  them  —  and  Mrs.  Edis!"  She  shrugged  her 
shoulders  significantly. 

One  of  the  younger  women,  the  wife  of  an  Antigua 
official,  chimed  in  eagerly.  "But  do  you  really  believe  she 
is  a  —  a  -  Oh,  it  is  too  silly  !  I  am  almost  ashamed  to 
say  it!" 

"Astrologer,"  supplied  the  wife  of  the  Magistrate,  who 
had  an  unprovincial  mind,  although  she  had  spent  the  best 
of  her  years  in  the  islands.  "Look  at  her." 

Mrs.  Edis  was  sitting  apart  from  the  other  women,  talk 
ing  to  the  President,  the  Captain  of  the  flagship,  and  several 
officers  of  riper  years  than  the  steaming  young  men  in 
their  hot  uniforms  frisking  about  the  room  with  the  cool 
white  Creole  girls.  Mrs.  Edis  had  not  liked  women  in  her 
triumphant  youth,  and  now  in  her  embittered  age  (she  was 
past  sixty,  for  Julia  was  the  last  of  many  children),  she 
classed  them  as  mere  tools  of  Nature,  purveyors  of  scandal, 


MRS.   EDIS  5 

and  fools  by  right  of  sex  and  circumstance.  Even  in  the 
early  nineties,  at  all  events  in  the  world's  backlands,  it  was 
still  the  fashion  for  women  of  strong  brains  and  character 
to  despise  their  own  sex,  and  Mrs.  Edis  had  not  sailed  out 
of  the  Caribbean  Sea  since  her  return  to  Nevis,  from  her 
first  and  only  visit  to  England,  forty  years  ago.  Living  an 
almost  isolated  life  on  a  tropic  island,  she  held  women  in 
much  the  same  regard  as  the  unenlightened  male  does 
to-day,  despite  his  growing  uneasiness  and  horrid  moments 
of  vision.  Upon  the  rare  occasions  when  she  deigned  to 
enter  the  little  world  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  she  greeted 
the  women  with  a  fine  old-time  courtesy,  and  demanded 
forthwith  the  attention  of  high  officials  too  dignified  or  too 
portly  to  dance.  The  men,  since  she  was  neither  beautiful 
nor  young,  were  amused  by  her  caustic  tongue,  and  corre 
spondingly  flattered  when  she  chose  to  be  amiable. 

It  was  difficult  to  believe  that  she  had  once  been  handsome 
-  beautiful  no  one  had  ever  called  her.  She  was  a  very  tall 
woman,  already  a  little  bowed,  raw-boned,  large  of  feature, 
save  for  the  eyes,  which  were  small,  black,  and  piercing.  Her 
black  hair  was  still  abundant,  strong  of  texture,  and  chang 
ing  only  at  the  temples;  her  skin  was  sallow  and  much 
wrinkled,  her  expression  harsh,  haughty,  tyrannical. 
There  was  no  sign  of  weakness  about  her  anywhere,  al 
though,  now  and  again,  as  her  eyes  followed  the  bright 
figure  of  her  daughter,  they  softened  before  flashing  with 
pride  and  triumph. 

She  found  herself  alone  with  the  Captain  and  turned  to 
him  abruptly. 

"This  is  the  eighth  time  Lieutenant  France  has  taken  my 
girl  out,"  she  announced.  "And  it  is  true  that  he  will  be  a 
duke?"  Mrs.  Edis  disdained  finesse,  although  she  was 
capable  of  hoodwinking  a  parliament. 

The  Captain  started  under  this  direct  attack.  His  large 
face  darkened  until  it  looked  like  well-laid  slabs  of  brick 
pricked  out  with  white.  He  cleared  his  throat,  glanced 
uneasily  at  the  formidable  old  lady,  then  answered  reso 
lutely  : 


6  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

"  Better  take  your  girl  home,  ma'am,  and  keep  her  close 
while  we're  in  harbor." 

The  look  she  turned  on  him  under  heavy  glistening  brows, 
that  reminded  the  imaginative  Scot  of  lizards,  and  were  fit 
companions  for  her  thick  dilating  nostrils,  made  him  quail 
for  a  moment :  like  many  sea  martinets  he  was  shy  with 
women  of  all  sorts.  Then  he  reflected  (never  having  heard  of 
the  black  arts)  that  looks  could  not  kill,  and  returned  to 
the  attack. 

"I  mean,  madam,  that  France  is  not  a  decent  sort  and 
would  have  been  chucked  long  since  but  for  family  in 
fluence." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  not  a  decent  sort,  sir ?" 

"He's  dissipated,  vicious  - 

"All  young  men  sow  their  wild  oats."  Mrs.  Edis  had 
forgotten  none  of  the  early  and  mid- Victorian  formula?, 
and  would  have  felt  disdain  for  any  young  aristocrat  who 
did  not  illustrate  the  most  popular  of  them. 

"That's  all  very  well,  but  France's  crop  is  sown  in  a  soil 
fertile  to  rottenness,  and  it  will  take  him  a  lifetime  to  ex 
haust  it.  I'd  rather  see  a  daughter  of  mine  in  her  coffin  than 
married  to  him,  duke  or  no  duke." 

Mrs.  Edis  favored  him  with  another  look,  under  which  his 
hue  deepened  to  purple :  poor  worm,  he  was  but  the  son  of 
an  industrious  merchant,  and  he  knew  that  the  sharp  eyes 
of  this  old  woman,  despite  the  eagle  in  his  glance  and  a  spine 
like  a  ramrod,  read  his  family  history  in  his  honest  face. 

"It's  God's  truth,  ma'am.  It's  not  that  I  mind  a  young 
fellow's  being  a  bit  wild ;  there's  plenty  that  are  and  make 
good  husbands  when  their  time  comes.  But  with  France 
its  different."  He  hesitated,  then  floundered  for  a  moment 
as  if  unaccustomed  to  analysis  of  his  fellows.  "It's  not 
that  he's  a  cad  —  not  in  the  ordinary  sense  —  I  mean  as 
far  as  manners  go  — .  I've  never  seen  a  man  with  better 
when  it  suits  him  —  or  more  insolent  when  that  suits  him; 
and  they're  more  natural  to  him,  I  fancy,  for  he's  fair 
eaten  up  with  pride  —  out  of  date  in  that  respect,  rather. 
It's  the  fashion,  nowadays,  for  the  big-wigs  to  be  affable 


MRS.   EDIS  7 

and  easy  and  democratic,  whether  they  feel  that  way  or 
not  —  however,  I  don't  mind  a  man's  feeling  his  birth 
and  blood,  for  like  as  not  he  can't  help  it,  although  it  doesn't 
make  you  love  him.  No.  It's  more  like  this :  I  believe 
France  to  be  entirely  without  heart.  That's  something  I 
never  believed  in  until  I  met  him  —  that  a  human  being 
lived  without  a  soft  spot  somewhere.  But  I've  seen  an 
expression  in  his  eyes,  especially  after  he's  been  drinking, 
that  appalls  me,  although  I  can  only  express  it  by  a  word 
commonplace  enough  —  heartless.  It's  that  —  a  heartless 
glitter  in  his  eyes,  usually  about  as  expressionless  as  glass 
marbles;  and  although  I'm  no  coward,  I've  felt  afraid  of 
him.  I  don't  mean  physically  —  but  absolute  lack  of 
heart,  of  all  human  sympathy,  must  give  a  person  an  awful 
power  —  but  it's  too  uncanny  for  me  to  describe.  I'm  not 
much  at  words,  ma'am,  and,  for  the  matter  of  that, 
I  shouldn't  have  got  on  the  subject  at  all,  it  not  being  my 
habit  to  discuss  my  officers  with  any  one,  if  this  wasn't  the 
first  time  I've  ever  seen  him  devote  himself  to  a  respectable 
girl.  But  he's  smitten  with  that  pretty  child  of  yours,  no 
doubt  of  it ;  and  there  are  three  handsome  young  married 
women  in  the  room,  too.  I  don't  like  the  look  of  it." 

"I  do."  Mrs.  Edis  had  not  removed  her  eyes  from  the 
old  sailor's  face  as  he  endeavored  to  elucidate  himself. 

"There's  many  a  slip,  you  know.  The  duke's  not  so  old, 
only  fifty  odd,  and  marvellous  cures  are  worked  these  days. 
Some  mother  is  always  tracking  him  with  a  good-looking 
girl.  As  for  France,  his  debts  are  about  all  he  has  to  live 
on- 

"The  President  just  told  me  that  he  has  an  income  in 
dependent  of  his  allowance  from  the  head -of  his  house, 
and  I  have  knowledge  that  his  expectations  are  founded 
upon  certainty." 

I  'hi-  Captain,  not  long  enough  in  port  to  have  heard  aught 
<>f  Mr-  Kdis'sdark  reputation,  glanced  at  her  with  a  puzzled 
expression,  then  gave  it  up  and  answered  lightly,  "His 
iiuonu'  is  good  enough,  yes,  but  nothing  to  his  debts,  which 
he  never  pays." 


8  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"  If  he  doesn't  pay  his  debts,  what  do  they  matter  ?  "  asked 
the  old  aristocrat,  whose  husband  had  never  paid  his,  and 
whose  son,  having  sold  the  last  of  his  acres,  was  drinking 
himself  into  Fig  Tree  churchyard. 

The  Captain  laughed.  "I  know  your  creed,  madam. 
And  I  must  admit  that  France  is  a  true  blood.  He  never 
arrives  in  port  without  being  showered  with  writs,  and  he 
brushes  them  off  as  he  would  these  damned  mosquitoes  - 
beg  pardon,  ma'am.  But  all  the  same,  it  wouldn't  be 
pleasant  for  your  little  girl.  Fancy  being  served  with  a 
writ  every  morning  at  breakfast." 

The  contempt  in  those  sharp,  unflinching  eyes  almost  froze 
the  words  in  their  exit.  "My  daughter  would  never  know 
what  they  were.  Of  money  matters  she  knows  as  little  as 
of  Life  itself.  Writs  would  not  disturb  her  youthful  joyous- 
ness  and  serenity  for  an  instant." 

"Damn  these  aristocrats!"  thought  the  old  sailor. 
"And  what  a  hole  this  must  be!"  He  continued  aloud, 
"But  after  the  luxury  of  her  old  home  - 

"Luxury?  We  are  as  poor  as  mice.  If  my  father  had 
not  put  a  portion  of  his  estate  in  trust  for  me,  as  soon  as 
he  discovered  that  my  husband  was  a  spendthrift,  we 
should  have  been  on  the  parish  long  ago." 

The  Captain  opened  his  blue  eyes,  eyes  that  looked 
oddly  soft  and  young  (when  not  on  duty)  in  his  battered 
visage.  "And  you  mean  to  say,  that  having  married  a 
spendthrift  -  Was  he  also  dissipated  ?" 

"Drank  himself  to  death." 

"And  you  are  prepared  to  hand  over  your  innocent 
little  daughter  to  the  same  fate?  But  it  is  incredible, 
ma'am!  Incredible!  I  was  thinking  that  you  merely 
knew  nothing  of  the  world  down  here." 

"It's  little  you  could  teach  me  !"  She  continued  after  a 
moment,  with  more  condescension:  "There  are  no  family 
secrets  in  these  islands,  and  as  many  skeletons  outside  the 
graveyards  as  in.  My  husband  squandered  every  acre  he 
inherited,  every  penny  of  mine  he  could  lay  hands  on.  He 
reduced  me,  the  proudest  woman  in  the  Caribbees,  to  a 


MRS.   EDIS  9 

mere  nobody.  Therefore,  am  I  determined  that  my 
child  shall  realize  the  great  ambitions  that  turned  to  dust  in 
my  fingers.  I  have  knowledge,  which  does  not  concern 
you,  that  this  marriage  —  look  for  yourself,  and  see  that 
it  is  inevitable  —  will  be  but  an  incident  while  greater 
things  are  preparing." 

"Oh,  if  you  have  a  medical  certificate  !  But  even  as  a 
duchess — "  He  paused  and  turning  his  head  stared  at 
the  couple  waltzing  past.  "There  is  no  doubt  as  to  the 
state  of  his  mind.  He  looks  the  usual  silly  ass  that  a  man 
always  does  when  bowled  over.  But  your  daughter? 
I  see  nothing  but  innocent  triumph  in  her  delightful  little 
face.  There's  no  love  there  —  neither  ambition." 

"There'll  be  what  I  wish  before  the  week  is  out." 

"She's  too  good  for  France,  and  she's  not  ambitious," 
said  the  Captain,  doggedly.  "Do  you  love  her,  madam?" 

"I  have  never  loved  any  one  else."  The  old  woman's 
harsh  voice  did  not  soften.  "Save,  of  course,"  with  a 
negligent  wave  of  her  hand,  "her  father,  when  I  was  young 
and  foolish.  So  much  the  better  if  she  does  not  love  her 
husband.  Women  born  to  high  destinies  have  no  need  of 
love.  What  little  I  remember  of  that  silly  and  degrading 
passion  makes  me  wish  that  no  daughter  of  mine  should 
ever  experience  it.  Leave  it  to  the  men,  and  the  sooner 
they  get  over  it,  the  better." 

"Ah  —  yes  —  but,  if  you  will  pardon  me,  while  your 
daughter  is  one  of  the  most  charming  young  things  I  have 
ever  seen,  she  is  not  a  beauty,  nor  has  she  the  grand  manner. 
You,  madam,  might  have  made  the  ideal  duchess,  if  there 
is  such  a  thing,  but  not  that  child." 

This  compliment,  either  clumsy  or  malicious,  won  him 
no  favor ;  the  old  lady's  eyes  flashed  fire  at  his  impertinence. 

He  went  on  undauntedly,  "And  why,  pray,  may  I  ask, 
do  you  think  it  so  great  a  destiny  to  be  a  duchess?" 

What  greater  than  to  wed  royalty  itself?     And  that  is 
hardly  possible  in  these  days." 

"Hardly.  But,  Lord  God,  madam,  where  have  you 
lived?  Women  to-day  are  working  out  destinies  for 


io  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

themselves.  Now,  personally,  I  should  rather  see  my 
daughter  a  famous  author,  painter,  singer,  even,  although 
I  still  have  a  bit  of  prejudice  against  the  stage,'  than  sud 
denly  elevated  to  a  class  to  which  she  was  not  born,  par 
ticularly  if  led  there  by  the  hand  of  a  man  like  France." 

"My  daughter  is  a  lady." 

"Oh,  Lord,  where  am  I?  In  the  eighteenth  century?" 
His  pique  and  anger  had  vanished.  'He  now  saw  nothing 
in  the  situation  but  present  humor  and  future  tragedy; 
and  feeling  that  his  ammunition  was  exhausted  for  the 
moment,  he  rose,  bowed  as  ceremoniously  as  his  spine 
would  permit,  and  moved  away.  Nevertheless,  he  was 
interested,  the  native  doggcdness  which  had  enabled  him 
to  overcome  social  disabilities  was  actively  roused ;  more 
over,  if  there  was  one  man  whom  he  disliked  more  pro 
foundly  than  another,  it  was  Harold  France,  and  he  resented 
the  influence  which  kept  a  scoundrel  in  an  honorable  pro 
fession,  when  he  should  have  been  kicked  out  with  a 
publicity  that  would  have  been  a  healthy  lesson  to  his  class. 

He  left  the  hot  ball-room  and  went  out  upon  the  terrace 
to  enjoy  a  cigar  and  meditate  upon  the  singular  character 
with  whom  he  had  exchanged  hot  shot  for  nearly  an  hour. 
He  had  no  clew  to  her  disquieting  personality,  but  saw  that 
she  was  a  woman  of  some  importance  despite  her  avowed 
poverty ;  and  she  was  the  elderly  mother  of  a  charming 
young  creature  with  a  mane  of  untidy  red-yellow  hair  (it 
would  never  occur  to  the  old  sailor  to  use  any  of  the 
popular  adjectives:  flame-colored,  copper,  Titian,  bronze), 
immense  gray  eyes  with  thick  black  lashes  on  either  lid, 
narrow  black  brows,  a  refined  but  not  distinguished  nose, 
a  sweet  childish  mouth  whose  ultimate  shape  Nature  had 
left  to  Life,  a  flat  figure  rather  under  medium  height, 
covered  with  a  white  muslin  frock,  whose  only  caparison 
was  a  faded  blue  sash,  unmistakably  Victorian.  Her  skin, 
like  that  of  the  other  Creole  girls  reared  in  West  Indian 
heats,  was  a  pure  transparent  white,  which  not  even  danc 
ing  tinged  with  color.  As  the  Captain  had  been  brutal 
enough  to  inform  her  mamma  she  was  not  a  beauty,  but 


MRS.   EDIS  ii 

—  he  stared  through  the  window  at  her  —  Youth,  radiant, 
eager,  innocent  Youth  that  was  her  philter.  To  be  sure, 
the  ball-room  of  Government  House  was  full  of  young 
girls,  some  of  them  quite  beautiful,  but  they  were  not  the 
vibrating  symbols  of  their  condition,  and  Julia  Edis  was. 
Not  one  of  them  possessed  her  entire  lack  of  coquetry,  that 
terrible  innocence,  which,  combined  with  an  equally  uncon 
scious  magnetism,  had  played  an  immediate  and  fatal  tune 
upon  sated  senses. 

As  the  good  but  by  no  means  unsophisticated  sailor 
looked  about  him  he  felt  more  apprehensive  still.  Harold 
France,  no  doubt,  was  expert  in  love-making,  and  what 
island  maiden  of  eighteen  could  resist  an  ardent  wooer  with 
a  handsome  face  above  six  feet  of  Her  Majesty's  uniform, 
on  a  night  like  this?  He  was  disposed  to  curse  the  moon 
for  being  on  duty,  as  she  generally  contrived  to  be  in  so 
many  of  the  dubious  crises  of  love ;  and  to-night  she  had 
turned  herself  inside  out  to  flood  the  tropical  landscape, 
the  sea,  the  mountains,  with  silver.  The  stars  were  pin- 
heads,  the  moon,  in  the  black  velvet  sky  of  the  tropics, 
looked  like  a  sailing  Alp,  its  ice  and  snows  absorbing  and 
flinging  forth  all  the  light  in  the  heavens.  The  lofty  clusters 
of  long  pointed  leaves  that  tipped  the  shafts  of  the  royal 
palm  trees,  glittered  like  swords,  the  sea  near  the  shore 
was  as  light  and  vivid  a  green  as  by  day,  and  the  scent 
of  flowers  as  seductive  as  the  call  of  the  nightingale. 
The  music  in  the  ball-room  was  sensuous,  sonorous;  and  it 
was  notorious  that  Creole  girls,  cool  and  white  as  they 
looked,  and  dressed  almost  as  simply  as  Julia  Edis,  were 
accomplished  coquettes,  always  prepared  for  exciting 
campaigns,  however  brief,  the  moment  a  ship  of  war 
cnkTed  the  harbor.  Flirtation,  love,  must  agitate  the  very 
air  to-night.  Such  things  are  communicable,  even  to  the 
most  ignorant  and  indifferent  of  maidens.  How  could 
that  .  hild  hope  to  escape? 

He  walked  over  to  the  window  and  looked  in.  The 
company  was  resting  between  dances,  the  girls  and  young 
officers  tlirting  as  openly  as  they  dared,  although  few  had 


12  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

ventured  to  defy  the  conventions  and  stroll  out  into  th« 
warm,  scented,  tropic  night.  Still,  two  or  three  had, 
proposals  being  almost  inevitable  in  such  conditions;  and 
squadrons  come  not  every  day. 

France  had  left  Julia  beside  her  mother  and  gone  into 
the  dining  room  to  refresh  himself.  He  returned  in  a 
moment,  and  not  only  tucked  the  young  girl's  arm  within 
his,  but  stood  for  a  while  talking  to  Mrs.  Edis  with  his  most 
ingratiating  air. 

"He  means  business,"  thought  the  Captain,  grimly; 
and  then  he  derived  some  comfort  from  the  attitude  of 
the  girl  herself.  She  was  not  paying  the  least  attention 
to  France,  although  she  had  permitted  him  to  take  posses 
sion  of  her.  Her  big,  shining,  happy  eyes  were  wandering 
about  the  room,  smiling  roguishly  as  they  met  those  of 
some  girl  acquaintance,  or  observed  a  flirtation  behind 
complacent  backs.  When  the  waltz  began  once  more, 
she  floated  off  in  the  arm  of  the  man  whose  hard,  opaque 
eyes  were  devouring  her  perfect  freshness,  but  she  paid 
little  or  no  attention  to  his  whispered  compliments,  being 
far  too  absorbed  in  the  delight  of  dancing. 

"He's  made  no  more  impression  on  her  than  if  he  were 
a  dancing  master,"  thought  the  Captain,  with  satisfaction. 
"She's  immune  to  tropic  nights  and  uniforms.  Gad! 
Wish  I  were  a  youngster.  I'd  enter  the  lists  myself." 

But  what  could  he  do  ?  He  saw  the  satisfaction  on  the 
powerful  face  of  Mrs.  Edis,  the  envious  glances  of  many 
mothers;  no  such  parti  as  Harold  France  had  come  to 
these  islands  for  many  a  year.  And  France  was  by  no 
means  ill  to  look  at,  if  one  did  not  analyze  his  eyes  and 
mouth.  He  was  a  big,  strong,  positive  male,  with  a  bold, 
sheep-like  profile  (sometimes  called  classic),  which  would 
have  made  him  look  stupid  but  for  a  general  expression  of 
pride,  so  ingrained  and  sincere  that  it  was  almost  lofty. 
There  was  not  an  atom  of  charm  about  him,  not  even 
common  animal  magnetism,  but  his  manners  were  dis 
tinguished,  his  small  brain  remarkably  quick,  and  he 
looked  as  if  it  had  taken  three  valets  to  groom  him. 


MRS.   EDIS  13 

The  Captain  almost  cursed  aloud.  How  was  he  to  make 
that  old  woman,  living  on  all  the  formulas  of  dead  genera 
tions,  and  fancying  that  she  knew  the  world,  understand 
the  difference  between  a  wild  young  man  and  a  vicious 
one?  The  girl  might  easily  be  persuaded  to  hate  a  man 
BO  aggressively  masculine  as  France,  l>ut  lu<l  she,  a  baby 
of  eighteen,  the  strength  of  character  to  stand  out  against 
the  ruthless  will  of  her  mother  ?  Moreover,  it  was  apparent 
that  the  vocabulary  of  the  West  Indies  had  yet  to  be 
enriched  with  those  pregnant  collocations,  "new  girl," 
"new  woman"  ;  all  these  pretty  old-fashioned  young  crea 
tures  had  been  brought  up,  no  doubt,  in  a  healthy  sub 
mission  to  their  parents,  and  if  one  of  the  parents  hap 
pened  to  be  a  she-dragon,  possibly  her  daughter  would 
marry  a  ducal  valetudinarian  of  ninety  if  she  got  her 
marching  orders. 

Should  he  appeal  to  France?  The  Captain,  possessed 
though  he  was  of  the  national  heart  of  oak,  felt  no  stomach 
for  that  interview.  Imagination  presented  him  with  a 
vision,  cruelly  distinct,  of  the  expression  of  high-bred 
insolence  with  which  his  effort  would  be  received,  the  subtle 
manner  in  which  he  would  be  made  to  feel,  that,  superior 
officer  though  he  might  be,  and  in  a  fair  way  to  become 
admiral  and  knight,  he  dwelt  on  the  far  side  of  that 
chasm  which  segregates  the  aristocrat  from  the  plebeian. 
France  had  treated  him  to  these  sensations  once  or  twice 
when  he  had  remonstrated  with  him  for  giving  way  to  his 
villainous  temper,  or  mixed  himself  up  in  some  nasty  mess 
on  shore ;  had  even  dared  to  threaten  the  prospective  duke, 
who  never  noticed  him  when  they  met  in  Piccadilly. 
France  had,  indeed,  induced  such  deep  and  righteous 
wrath  in  the  worthy  Captain's  breast  that  he  might  have 
been  responsible  for  another  convert  to  Socialism  had  it 
not  been  for  the  old  sailor's  immutable  loyalty  to  his  queen 
and  flag.  But  he  hated  France  the  more  because  the  man 
was  too  clever  for  him.  If  he  had  disgraced  his  uniform,  it 
always  chanced  that  the  Captain  was  engaged  elsewhere; 
it  was  the  Captain,  not  himself,  who  lost  his  temper  during 


14  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  HER  TIMES 

their  personal  encounters;  his  politeness,  indeed,  to  his 
superior  officer  was  unbearable.  And  his  family  influence 
surrounded  him  like  wired  glass;  it  would  have  saved  a 
more  reckless  man  from  public  disgrace.  His  mother's 
brother  abominated  him,  but  used  his  close  connection 
with  the  Admiralty  to  avert  a  family  scandal ;  his  cousin, 
Kingsborough,  who  was  far  too  saturated  with  family  pride, 
and  too  unsophisticated,  to  believe  such  stories  as  he  may 
have  heard  about  the  heir  to  whom  he  was  automatically 
attached,  believed  France's  tales  of  envious  detractors, 
and  protected  him  vigilantly.  Sickly  as  he  was,  he  was 
by  no  means  negligible  politically;  he  did  his  duty  as  he 
saw  it,  and,  a  sound  Tory,  was  a  reliable  pillar  of  his  party, 
whether  it  was  in  opposition  or  in  power.  Lastly,  France 
was  a  good  officer,  and,  apparently,  without  fear. 

To-night,  the  Captain,  thinking  of  his  one  unmarried 
daughter,  and  singularly  attracted  by  the  radiant  girl  about 
to  be  sacrificed  by  a  narrow,  inexperienced,  long  since 
sexless  mother,  hated  France  ferociously  and  made  up  his 
never  wavering  mind  to  balk  him.  .  .  . 

"  And  speaking  of  the  devil's  own  — 

France  had  stepped  out  upon  the  terrace  not  far  from 
him,  and  alone.  For  a  moment  the  man  stood  in  shadow, 
then  a  quick,  abrupt  movement  brought  his  face  into  a 
shaft  of  light.  France,  unaware  of  the  only  other  occupant 
of  the  terrace,  stared  straight  before  him.  The  Captain 
'ooked  to  see  his  face  flushed  and  contorted  with  animal 
desire,  knowing  the  man  as  he  did.  But  France's  face  was 
as  immobile  as  a  mask ;  only,  as  he  continued  to  stare, 
there  came  into  his  eyes  what  the  Captain  had  formulated 
as  "a  heartless  glitter."  It  made  him  look  neither  man  nor 
beast,  but  a  shell  without  a  soul,  without  the  common  in 
stincts  of  humanity,  a  Thing  apart.  As  the  Captain,  him 
self  in  shadow,  gazed,  fascinated,  and  sensible  of  the  horror 
which  this  singular  expression  of  France's  always  induced, 
something  stirred  in  his  brain.  Where  had  he  seen  that 
expression  before  —  sometime  in  his  remote  youth  ?  —where  ? 
where  ?  —  Suddenly  he  had  a  vision  of  a  whole  troop  of 


MRS.   EDIS  IS 

faces  —  they  marched  out  from  some  lost  recess  in  his  mind 
-  all  with  that  same  heartless  —  soulless  —  glitter  in  their 
eyes.    And  then  the  cigar  fell  from  his  loosened  lips, 
had  seen  those  faces  —  some  thirty  years  ago  —  m  an  asy 
lum  for  the  insane  one  night  when  the  more  docile  of  the 
patients  were  permitted  to  have  a  dance. 
"Good  God  !"  he  muttered.     "Good  God  ! 
France  turned  at  the  sound  of  the  voice. 
"That   you,    Captain?"    he   said    negligently,  his  eyes 
merely  hard  and  shallow  again.     "Jolly  party,  ami  It? 
Of  course  the  tropics  are  an  old  story  to  you,  but  this  is 
my  first  experience  of  the  West  Indies,  at  least.     I'm  quite 
mad  about  them.     And  all  these  toppin' girls!     Never  saw 
such  skins.     Come  in  and  have  a  drink .'" 

He  had  spoken  in  his  best  manner,  without  a  trace  < 
insolence.     Having  delivered  himself  of  inoffensive  senti 
ments,  quite  proper  to  the  evening,  he  suddenly  passed  his 
arm  through  that  of  his  superior  officer  and  led  him  down 
the  terrace.     The  Captain,  overcome  by  his  emotions  and 
the  unwonted  condescension  of  a  prospective  duke,  made 
no  resistance,  drank  a  stiff  Scotch-and-soda,  then  cursing 
himself  for  a  snob  of  the  best  British  dye,  returned  to  the 
element  where  he  Jelt  most  at  home. 


II 

MRS.  EDIS  and  Julia  slept  at  Government  House,  but 
rose  early  and  returned  to  Nevis  by  the  sail-boat  that  car 
ried  merchandise  between  the  islands,  and,  now  and  then, 
an  uncomfortable  passenger.  Its  sails,  twice  too  big  and 
heavy,  ever  menaced  an  upset,  and  fulfilled  expectations 
at  least  once  a  year.  Mrs.  Edis,  steadying  herself  with 
her  stick,  took  no  notice  of  the  plunging  craft,  or  the  glory 
of  the  morning.  The  sapphire  blue  of  the  Caribbean  Sea 
looked  the  half  of  a  pulsing  world  ;  the  other  half,  the  deep, 
hot,  cloudless  sky.  Nevis,  fringed  with  palms  and 
cocoanuts,  banana  and  lemon  trees,  glittering  and  rigid, 
drooping  and  dim,  rose,  where  it  faced  St.  Kitts,  with  a 
bare  road  at  its  base,  but  spread  out  %a  train  on  its 
farther  side  to  accommodate  the  little  capital  of  Charles 
Town  and  the  ruin  of  Bath  House.  In  this  month  of  March 
the  long  slopes  of  the  old  volcano  were  green  even  on  the 
deserted  estates.  Here  and  there  was  an  isolated  field  of 
cane.  The  wreckage  of  stone  walls,  all  tliat  was  left  of  the 
"  Great  Houses,"  broke  its  expanse;  or  the  spire  of  a  church, 
surrounded  by  trees  and  crumbling  tombs.  High  above,  a 
regiment  of  black  trees  stood  on  guard  about  the  crater; 
their  rigor  softened  by  the  white  cloud  so  constant  to  Nevis 
that  it  might  be  the  ghost  of  her  dead  fires.  In  the  dis 
tance  were  other  misty  islands ;  about  the  boat  flew  silver 
fish,  almost  blue  as  they  rose  from  the  water;  in  the  road 
stead  were  the  three  cruisers;  and  countless  rowboats  filled 
with  chattering  negroes,  dressed  in  their  gaudiest  colors, 
bent  upon  selling  fish  and  sweets  to  the  paymaster  and 
youngsters  of  the  squadron,  or  ready  to  dive  for  pennies. 

Mrs.  Edis  sat  staring  straight  before  her  with  a  rapt  ex 
pression  that  Julia  knew  of  old  and  admired  with  all  the 
fervor  of  a  young  soul  eager  for  enthusiasms.  She  would 

16 


MRS.   EDIS  17 

in  any  case  have  believed  the  tyrannical  old  woman,  kind 
to  her  alone,  quite  the  most  remarkable  person  in  the 
world,  but  her  mother's  lore,  her  long  fits  of  abstraction, 
when  mysticism  descended  upon  her  like  a  veil,  not  only 
inspired  her  young  daughter  with  a  fascinating  awe,  but 
gave  her  a  pleasant  sense  of  superiority  over  those  girls 
upon  whom  the  planets  had  bestowed  mere  mothers. 

Julia  roamed  steadily  about  the  tipsy  boat,  her  mane  of 
hair,  torn  loose  by  the  trade- wind,  swirling  about  her  like 
flames,  sometimes  standing  upright.  Her  mouth  smiled 
constantly ;  her  large  gray  eyes,  one  day  to  be  both  keen  and 
deep,  were  merely  shining  with  youth  on  this  vivid  tropic 
morning.  The  man  gazing  at  her  through  his  field-glass 
from  the  deck  of  the  flag-ship  trembled  visibly,  and  felt  so 
primal  that  he  believed  himself  embarked  upon  one  of  those 
purely  romantic  love  affairs  he  had  read  about  somewhere 
in  books. 

"That's  the  girl  for  me,"  sang  through  his  momentarily 
rejuvenated  brain.  "Rippin'I  Toppin'!  Words  too  weak 
for  a  bit  of  all  right  like  that.  To  hell  with  all  the  others  ! 
Chucked  them  overboard  last  night.  Hags,  the  whole  lot. 
Hate  subtlety,  finesse,  women  of  the  world  —  all  the  rest 
of  'em.  Wild  rose  on  a  tropic  island,  so  fresh  —  so  sweet  - 
Gad!  Gad!" 

He  almost  maundered  aloud.  The  Captain,  watching 
him,  thought  he  had  never  seen  a  man  look  more  of  an  ass, 
and  wondered  at  his  dark  suspicion  of  the  night  before. 
What  if  he  really  were  but  the  common  wild  young  blood, 
run  after  by  women  for  his  looks  and  prospects?  Why 
should  he  not  meet  the  one  girl  like  other  men  and  settle 
down  with  her?  But  although  sentimental,  like  most 
sailors,  he  shook  his  head  vigorously.  He  knew  men,  and 
France  was  not  as  other  men,  whatever  the  cause.  He  was 
merely  lovesick  at  present,  not  reformQd.  Of  course  it 
was  possible  that  his  diseased  fancy  would  be  diverted  by 
one  of  those  honey-colored  wenches  down  among  the  co- 
coanut  trees  on  the  edge  of  St.  Kitts,  or  that  a  second  in 
terview  with  a  girl  of  such  disconcerting  innocence  might 


i8  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

put  him  off  altogether.  But  if  it  should  be  otherwise  — 
the  Captain  had  made  up  his  mind  to  act. 

The  boat  reached  the  jetty  of  Charles  Town.  Mrs.  Edis 
was  assisted  up  and  into  her  carriage,  and  her  agile  daughter 
pinned  her  hair  in  place  and  jumped  on  her  pony.  The  rick 
ety  old  vehicle  had  been  bought  sometime  in  the  forties,  the 
horses  and  the  pony  were  of  a  true  West  Indian  leanness, 
Julia's  hair  tumbled  again  almost  at  once,  and  Mrs.  Edis 
wore  a  broche  shawl  and  a  bonnet  almost  as  old  as  the  car 
riage.  But  the  odd  little  cavalcade  attracted  only  respect 
ful  attention  in  the  drowsy  town  almost  lost  in  a  grove  of 
tropical  fruit  trees.  At  one  end  of  Main  Street  was  the 
court-house,  there  were  two  or  three  small  stores,  perhaps 
six  or  eight  stone  dwelling-houses  still  in  repair,  and  as  many 
wooden  ones,  but  between  almost  every  two  there  was  a 
ruin,  trees  and  flowering  shrubs  growing  in  crevice 
and  courtyard.  The  great  ruin  of  Bath  House,  far  to  the 
right,  windowless,  rent  by  earthquake  and  hurricane,  choked 
with  creepers  and  even  with  trees,  looked  like  the  remains 
of  a  Babylonian  palace  with  hanging  gardens. 

The  narrow  road,  after  leaving  Main  Street,  wound  round 
the  base  of  the  mountain  ;  opposite  St.  Kitts  a  branch  road 
led  up  to  what  was  left  of  the  old  Byam  estate,  inherited 
by  Mrs.  Edis  from  her  father,  and  granted  to  an  ancestor 
in  the  days  of  Charles  I.  Great  House  stood  on  a  lofty 
plateau,  not  far  below  the  forest,  a  big,  square,  solid  stone 
house,  built  extravagantly  when  laborers  were  slaves,  and 
with  a  small  village  of  outbuildings.  The  large  garden 
was  surrounded  by  a  high  stone  wall,  and  beyond  the  ser 
vants'  quarters,  granaries,  and  stables,  were  vegetable  gar 
dens,  orchards,  and  cocoanut  groves.  Sugar-cane  still  grew 
on  the  thirty  acres  which  remained  of  the  old  estate,  but 
in  this  era  of  the  islands'  great  depression,  yielded  little 
revenue.  Mrs.  Edis  possessed  a  few  consols  and  raised  all 
that  was  needed  for  her  frugal  table  and  for  that  of  her 
improvident  son. 

The  outbuildings  surrounded  a  hollow  square,  in  which 
there  was  a  large  date-palm,  a  banana  tree,  a  pump,  and  a 


MRS.   EDIS  19 

spring  in  which  the  washing  was  done.  Scarlet  flowers 
hung  from  pillars  and  eaves.  Under  the  trees  and  the  bal 
conies  of  the  houses  the  blacks  were  sleeping  peacefully 
when  roused  by  a  kick  from  the  overseer,  himself  but 
just  awakened  by  his  wife.  "Ole  Mis'  come!"  The  words 
might  have  exploded  from  a  bomb.  Julia,  who  by  dint  of 
argument  with  her  languid  pony,  and  some  chastisement, 
was  ahead  of  the  carriage,  laughed  aloud  as  she  saw  the 
negroes  scramble  to  their  feet  and  rush  out  into  the  cane 
fields,  or  busy  themselves  with  the  first  service  their  heavy 
eyes  could  focus.  In  a  moment  the  courtyard  was  a  scene 
of  something  like  activity ;  even  the  chickens  were  awake 
and  scratching  round  the  crowing  cocks,  the  dogs  were 
barking,  the  pic'nies  jabbering,  and  along  the  spring  was 
a  broken  row  of  blue,  red,  yellow,  purple,  the  black 
or  honey-colored  faces  of  the  women  hardly  to  be  seen  as 
they  vigorously  rubbed  the  stones  with  the  household 
linen. 

Julia  turned  her  pony  loose,  ran  through  the  thick  grove 
in  the  front  garden,  the  living  room  of  the  house,  and  up 
between  the  vivid  terraces  with  their  dilapidated  statues 
and  urns  to  the  wood,  where  she  frisked  about  like  a  happy 
young  animal.  In  truth  she  felt  herself  quite  the  happiest 
and  most  fortunate  girl  in  the  Caribbees.  For  two  long 
years  she  had  looked  forward  to  her  first  ball  at  Govern 
ment  House,  and  although  many  West  Indian  girls  came 
out  at  sixteen,  her  mother  had  been  as  insensible  as  old 
Nevis  to  her  importunities.  How  many  nights  she  had 
hung  out  of  her  window  watching  the  long  row  of  lights 
marking  Government  House,  picturing  the  girls  of  St. 
Kitts,  those  enchanting  creatures  with  whom  she  had  never 
held  an  hour  of  solitary  intercourse,  dancing  with  even  more 
mysterious  beings  in  the  uniform  of  Her  Blessed  Majesty. 
She  had  read  little:  a  volume  or  two  of  history  or  travel, 
several  of  the  romances  and  poems  of  Walter  Scott,  which 
she  had  discovered  in  the  aged  bookcase.  Her  mother  took 
in  no  newspaper  but  the  leaflet  published  on  St.  Kitts,  and 
she  had  led  almost  the  life  of  a  novitiate ;  but  the  serving 


20  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

women  had  whispered  to  her  of  the  fate  of  all  maidens,  and 
she  had  an  unhappy  sister-in-law  with  a  beautiful  baby, 
who,  although  she  cried  a  good  deal,  was  still  another  win 
dow  through  which  the  puzzled  maiden  peeped  out  into 
Life.  But  she  was  quite  as  ignorant  as  the  murky  depths 
of  France  demanded. 

She  dreamed  of  the  Prince  (in  Her  Blessed  Majesty's 
uniform),  who  would  one  day  bear  her  to  his  feudal  castle 
in  England  and  make  her  completely  happy,  but  of  the 
facts  of  love  and  life  she  knew  no  more  than  two-year-old 
Fanny  Edis,  who  cuddled  so  warmly  in  her  young  aunt's 
breast.  Such  instincts  as  she  possessed  in  common  with 
all  girls  were  confused  and  suffocated  by  the  yearnings  of 
a  romantic  mind  with  an  inherent  tendency  to  idealism. 
Beyond  the  narrow  circle  of  her  existence  was  an  endless 
maze,  deep  in  twilight,  although  casting  up  now  and  again 
strange  mirages,  faint  but  lovely  of  color,  and  of  many  and 
shifting  shapes.  She  wanted  all  the  world,  but  she  was 
really  quite  content  as  she  was,  her  mind  being  still  closed, 
her  true  imagination  unawakened.  Such  was  the  famous 
Julia  France  in  the  month  of  March,  1894. 

To-day  she  was  happy  without  mitigation.  The  ball  at 
Government  House  had  no  sting  in  its  wake.  She  had  been 
one  of  the  belles.  Not  a  dance  had  she  missed,  and  she 
knew  that,  thanks  to  one  of  her  governesses,  she  danced 
very  well.  To  be  sure  the  young  officers  in  Her  Blessed 
Majesty's  uniform  had  perspired  a  good  deal,  and  a  big  and 
rather  horrid  man  had  tried  to  monopolize  her,  but  at  least 
he  had  been  the  best  dancer  of  the  squadron,  and  his  rivals 
had  looked  ready  to  call  him  out.  Also,  the  other  girls 
had  been  jealous.  Julia  was  human. 

"After  all,  one  goes  to  a  party  to  dance,"  she  thought 
philosophically.  "The  men  don't  matter." 

Dismissing  France  she  reviewed  the  other  young  men 
in  turn,  but  shook  her  head  over  each.  Not  one  had  made 
the  slightest  impression  on  her.  The  Prince  was  yet  to 
arrive.  And  then  she  laughed  a  little  at  her  mother's 
expense. 


MRS.   EDIS  21 

So  far,  she  owed  the  only  excitements  of  her  life  to  her 
mother's  practices  in  astrology.  She  knew  that  old  M'sieu, 
who  had  lived  at  Great  House  until  his  death  shortly  after  her 
eighth  birthday,  had  instructed  her  mother  deeply  in 
the  ancient  science.  Many  a  time  she  had  stolen  out  into 
the  garden  at  night  and  watched  the  two  motionless 
figures  on  the  flat  roof  of  the  house.  They  were  sequestered 
for  days  at  a  time  in  Mrs.  Edis's  study,  a  room  Julia  was  for 
bidden  to  enter.  Julia,  however,  had  hung  over  that  tempt 
ing  sill  upon  more  than  one  occasion,  and  long  since 
discovered  that  every  book  on  the  walls  related  to  astrology 
and  other  branches  of  Eastern  science;  had  gathered,  also, 
from  remarks  at  the  dinner  table  while  M'sieu  was  alive, 
that  it  was  one  of  the  most  valuable  libraries  of  its  kind  in 
the  world. 

She  also  knew  that  M'sieu  had  cast  her  horoscope  the 
very  moment  that  old  Mammy  Gales  had  brought  her  up  to 
Great  House  in  her  wonderful  basket,  as  he  had  cast  the 
horoscopes  of  all  her  brothers,  whose  only  survivor  was  the 
wretched  Fawcett.  Her  ears  had  been  very  sharp  long 
before  she  reached  the  age  of  eight,  and  she  knew  that  the 
planets  had  conspired  to  make  a  great  lady  of  her  in  a  great 
country  (the  queen's  of  course) ;  she  also  knew  that  her 
mother  had  cast  her  little  daughter's  horoscope  herself  a 
month  later,  and  the  result  had  been  the  same.  The  dates 
had  then  been  sent  to  the  leading  astrologer  in  Italy,  and 
again  with  the  same  result.  Therefore  had  Julia,  happy 
and  buoyant  by  nature,  grown  up  in  the  comfortable  as 
surance  that  the  wildest  of  her  dreams  must  be  real 
ized. 

She  had  shrewdly  divined  that  last  night  at  Government 
House  had  coincided  with  the  first  of  the  fateful  dates 
announced  by  the  planets  of  her  birth,  and  that  her  mother, 
having  no  intention  of  deflecting  the  magnet  of  fate,  had 
postponed  her  introduction  to  the  world  of  young  men 
until  the  third  of  March ;  which,  extraordinarily,  had 
brought  no  less  than  three  cruisers  to  the  little  world  of 
St.  Kitts.  And  the  poor  old  planets,  for  whom  she  felt 


22  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

an  almost  personal  affection,  had  been  all  wrong,  even  when 
so  ably  assisted  by  her  august  parent !  She  felt  a  momen 
tary  pang  at  the  unsettling  of  her  faith,  the  loss  of  her 
idols,  then  curled  herself  up  and  went  to  sleep  on  the  soft 
cheek  of  the  old  volcano. 


Ill 

SHE  was  awakened  by  the  dinner  gong,  booming  loudly 
on  the  terrace;  her  predilection  for  the  woods  about  the 
crater  was  an  old  story.  She  sat  up  with  a  yawn  and  a 
naughty  face.  Such  good  things  she  had  eaten  at  Govern 
ment  House  last  night,  and  even  her  strong  little  teeth  were 
weary  of  fibrous  cattle  killed  only  when  too  old  and  feeble 
to  do  the  work  of  the  infrequent  horse.  She  detested  even 
the  Sunday  chicken,  invitingly  brown  without  but  as  tough 
as  the  cows  within,  so  recent  her  exit  from  the  court  of 
much  repose.  That  chicken  !  No  West  Indian  ever  for 
gets  her.  She  looks  alive  and  full  of  pride,  as,  with  her 
gizzard  tucked  under  her  left  wing,  she  is  carried  high  but 
mincingly  down  the  dining  room  to  the  head  of  the  table 
by  a  yellow  wench  or  superannuated  butler.  When  a 
venerable  cock  is  sacrificed,  he  is  boiled  as  a  tribute  to  the 
doughtiness  of  his  sex,  but  the  more  abundant  ladies  of  the 
harem  are  given  a  brown  and  burnished  shroud,  deceitful 
to  the  last. 

Butter,  Julia  had  rarely  tasted;  milk  was  almost  as  scarce ; 
but  she  would  have  been  quite  willing  to  live  on  the  deli 
cious  fruits  and  vegetables  of  the  Indies,  bread  and  coffee. 
Her  mother,  however,  forced  her  to  eat  meat  once  a  day, 
hoping  to  check  the  anaemia  inevitable  in  the  tropics. 

Mrs.  Edis,  kind  as  she  ever  was  to  the  one  creature  that 
had  found  the  soft  spot  in  her  heart,  did  not  like  to  be  kept 
waiting,  and  Julia,  pinning  up  her  untidy  hair  as  she  ran, 
was  in  the  dining-room  before  the  gong  had  ceased  to  echo. 
Like  the  other  rooms  of  Great  House,  and  the  older  man 
sions  of  the  West  Indies  in  general,  this  was  very  large  and 
very  bare,  although  the  sideboard,  table,  and  chairs  were 
of  mahogany.  Only  two  of  the  ancestral  portraits  hung 
on  the  whitewashed  walls,  John  and  Mary  Fawcett;  the 


24  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

grandparents,  also,  of  one  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  had 
unaccountably  become  something  or  other  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  instead  of  serving  his  mother  country. 
Mrs.  Edis  disapproved  of  his  conduct,  and  rarely  alluded 
to  him,  but  Julia  sometimes  haunted  the  ruin  of  the  house 
down  near  the  shore,  where  he  was  supposed  to  have  come 
to  light,  and  would  have  liked  to  know  more  of  him.  There 
was  an  old  print  of  him  in  the  garret  (her  grandfather,  it 
seemed,  had  admired  him),  and  she  liked  his  sparkling  eyes 
and  human  mouth.  A  photograph  of  her  brother  Fawcett, 
taken  some  years  ago  in  London,  was  not  unlike,  although 
the  charming  mouth  had  always  been  weaker ;  but  now  - 
and  this  was  Julia's  only  trouble  —  he  was  quite  dreadful 
to  look  at,  and  came  seldom  to  Great  House.  When  he 
did,  there  were  terrible  scenes;  Julia,  much  as  she  loved 
him,  ran  to  the  forest  the  moment  she  heard  his  voice. 

Mrs.  Edis  was  already  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  for 
the  moment  took  no  notice  of  her  daughter ;  her  expression 
was  still  introspective,  her  face  almost  visibly  veiled.  Julia 
made  a  grimace  at  the  dish  of  meat  handed  her  by  the 
servant. 

"This  is  poor  old  Abraham,  I  suppose,"  she  remarked, 
with  more  flippancy  than  her  austere  mother  and  her  el 
derly  governesses  had  encouraged.  "I  shall  feel  like  a 
cannibal.  I've  ridden  on  his  back  and  talked  to  him  when 
I've  had  nobody  else.  Well,  he'll  have  his  revenge !' 

Mrs.  Edis  suddenly  emerged  from  the  veil.  She  looked 
hard,  practical,  incisive. 

"Soon  you  will  no  longer  be  obliged  to  eat  these  old  ser 
vants  of  the  field,"  she  announced.  "Your  island  days 
are  over." 

Julia  dropped  both  knife  and  fork  with  a  clatter.  "Are 
we  going  to  England  to  live?  Oh,  mother!  Shall  I  see 
England  ?  The  queen  ?  All  the  dear  little  princes  and 
princesses  ?  Are  they  the  least  bit  like  Fanny  ? 

"Not  at  all,  nor  like  any  other  children,"  replied  the  old 
royalist,  who  had  dined  at  the  queen's  table  in  her  youth. 
"No,  I  probably  shall  never  see  England  again.  Nor  do 


MRS.   EDIS  25 

I  desire  to  do  so.  The  queen  is  old  and  so  am  I.  Moreover, 
judging  from  your  Aunt  Maria's  letters,  and  her  edifying  dis 
course  upon  the  rare  occasions  when  she  honors  us  with  a 
visit,  London  must  be  sadly  changed.  The  majestic  sim 
plicity  of  my  day  has  vanished,  and  an  extravagance  in 
dress  and  living,  an  insane  rush  for  excitement  and  pleasure, 
have  taken  its  place.  There  are  railways  built  beneath 
the  earth,  gorging  and  disgorging  men  like  ant-hills.  Women 
think  of  nothing  but  Paris  clothes,  no  longer  of  their  duty 
as  wives  and  mothers.  But  although  this  would  disturb 
and  bewilder  me,  with  you  it  will  be  different.  Youth  can 
adapt  itself  - 

"But  when  am  I  going,  and  with  whom?"  shrieked 
Julia.  "  Has  Aunt  Maria  sent  for  me?" 

"Not  she.  She  has  never  spent  a  penny  on  any  one 
but  herself.  She  lives  to  be  smart,  and  is  the  silliest  woman 
I  have  ever  known.  And  that  is  saying  a  good  deal,  for 
they  are  all  "silly- 

"  But  me  —  I  —  when  —  do  explain,  dear  mother  ! " 

Mrs.  Edis  paused  a  moment  and  then  fixed  her  power 
ful  little  eyes  on  the  eager  innocent  ones  opposite.  "  Could 
you  not  see  last  night  that  Lieutenant  France  had  fallen 
in  love  with  you?"  she  asked. 

"That  horrid  old  thing!  Why,  he  is  nothing  but  a 
dancer.  You  don't  mean  to  say  that  I  must  marry  him  ?" 
and  Julia,  for  the  first  time  since  her  childhood,  and  with 
out  in  the  least  knowing  why,  burst  into  a  storm  of  tears. 

"  I  won't  marry  him,"  she  sobbed.     "  I  won't." 

Mrs.  Edis  waited  until  she  was  calm,  then,  having  dis 
posed  of  a  square  of  tissue  as  old,  relatively,  as  her  own, 
continued,  "  It  is  I  that  should  weep,  for  I  am  to  lose  you 
and  it  will  be  very  lonely  here.  But  that  is  neither  here 
nor  there.  When  the  time  comes  we  all  fulfil  our  destiny. 
Your  time  has  come  to  marry,  and  take  your  first  step  upon 
the  brilliant  career  which  awaits  you." 

"Please  wait  till  the  next  squadron,"  sobbed  Julia. 
''The  planets  may  have  made  a  mistake  - 

This  remark  was  unworthy  of  notice. 


26  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

"I  hate  the  planets." 

Mrs.  Edis  applied  a  sharp  knife  and  an  upright  indom 
itable  fork  to  another  fragment  of  Abraham. 

Julia,  feeling  no  match  for  the  combined  forces  of  the 
heavens  and  her  mother,  dried  her  eyes. 

"Has  he  a  castle?" 

"He  will  have." 

"And  many  books?" 

"England  is  full  of  libraries,  the  greatest  in  the  world." 

"  Will  Aunt  Maria  take  me  to  parties?" 

"  Undoubtedly." 

"Will  he  find  the  Prince  for  me  ?" 

"The  what?" 

"  Well,  I  don't  mean  a  real  prince,  but  a  young  man  that 
I  could  love." 

"  Certainly  not !     You  will  love  your  husband." 

"  But  he  is  old  enough  to  be  my  father." 

"He  is  only  forty." 

"I  am  only  eighteen.  When  I  am  forty  I  could  have 
a  grandchild." 

"Nonsense.  Husbands  should  always  be  older  than 
their  wives.  They  are  then  ready  to  settle  down,  and  are 
capable  of  advising  giddy  young  things  like  yourself.  You 
may  not  feel  any  silly  romantic  love  for  him  —  I  sincerely 
hope  that  you  will  not  —  but  you  will  be  a  faithful  and  de 
voted  wife,  and  as  obedient  to  him  as  you  have  been  to  me." 

"I  don't  mind  obeying  him  if  he  is  as  dear  as  you  are. 
Maybe  he  is,  for  you  looked  so  much  sterner  than  all  the 
other  mothers  last  night,  and  I  am  sure  that  not  one  of 
them  is  so  kind.  Has  he  some  babies  ?  " 

"  What  ?  "     Mrs.  Edis  almost  dropped  her  fork. 

"  I'd  like  a  few.  Fanny  is  such  a  darling.  I  liked  him 
less  than  any  of  the  men  I  danced  with,  but  if  he  has  a 
castle,  and  would  bring  me  to  see  you  every  year,  and  would 
let  me  run  about  as  you  do,  and  read  a  lot  of  books,  and  give 
me  a  lot  of  babies,  I  shouldn't  mind  him  so  much." 

Mrs.  Edis  turned  cold.  For  the  first  time  she  recognized 
the  abysmal  depths  of  her  daughter's  ignorance.  It  was 


MRS.    EDIS  27 

a  subject  to  which  she  had  never,  indeed,  given  a  thought. 
A  governess  had  always  been  at  the  child's  heels.  Julia 
had  been  brought  up  as  she  had  been  brought  up  herself, 
and  she  belonged  to  the  school  of  dames  to  whom  the  en 
lightenment  of  youth  was  a  monstrous  indelicacy.  More 
over,  she  was  old  enough  to  look  back  upon  the  material 
side  of  marriage  as  an  automatic  submission  to  the  race. 
Women  had  a  certain  destiny  to  fulfil,  and  the  whole  matter 
should  be  dismissed  at  that.  Nevertheless  as  she  looked 
at  that  personification  of  delicate  and  trusting  innocence, 
she  felt  a  sudden  and  violent  hatred  of  men,  a  keen  longing 
that  this  perfect  flower  could  go  to  her  high  destiny  unde- 
filed,  and  regret  that  she  must  not  only  travel  the  ap 
pointed  road,  but  set  out  unprepared.  She  dimly  recalled 
her  own  wedding  and  that  she  had  hated  her  husband  until 
kindly  Time  had  made  him  one  of  the  facts  of  existence. 
To  warn  the  child  was  beyond  her,  but  she  made  up  her 
mind  to  postpone  the  ultimate  moment  as  long  as  possible. 

"You  will  have  everything  you  want,"  she  said.  "And 
as  he  cannot  obtain  leave  of  absence  while  away  on  duty, 
you  will  merely  become  engaged  to  him  —  no  -  "  she  re 
membered  her  planets ;  "you  are  to  marry  at  once,  but  you 
will  go  to  England  by  the  Royal  Mail,  and  have  ample 
time  to  become  accustomed  to  the  change.  Mrs.  Higgins 
is  going  to  England  very  shortly.  She  will  take  you,  and 
if  Mr.  France  is  not  there  —  his  squadron  goes  to  South 
America  —  you  can  stay  with  Maria  until  he  arrives.  That 
will  give  you  time  to  buy  some  pretty  clothes,  and  become 
accustomed  to  the  idea  of  your  —  new  position  in  life." 

"  Will  my  clothes  come  from  Paris?"' 

"No  doubt.  I  have  a  hundred  pounds  in  the  bank  and 
you  are  welcome  to  them." 

"A  hundred  jx^unds  !  I  shall  have  a  hundred  frocks,  one 
of  every  color  that  will  go  with  my  hair,  and  the  rest  white." 

"Not  quite."  Mrs.  Edis  had  but  a  faint  appreciation  of 
tin  cost  of  modern  clothes,  but  she  thought  it  best  to  begin 
at  once  to  curb  her  daughter's  imagination.  "It  will  buy 
you  ei.^ht  or  ten,  and  no  doubt  your  husband  will  give  you 


JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

more.  But  even  if  he  has  not  as  large  an  income  now  as 
he  will  have  later,  you  have  an  instinct  for  dress.  Your 
frock  was  the  simplest  at  Government  House  last  night,  but 
I  noticed  that  you  had  adjusted  it,  and  your  ribbons,  with 
an  air  that  made  it  look  quite  the  smartest  in  the  room. 
You  have  distinction  and  style.  The  President  said  so  at 
once.  You  will  make  a  little  money  go  far." 

Julia  stared  at  her  mother.  It  was  the  first  time  she 
had  heard  her  pay  a  compliment  to  any  one.  But  she  liked 
it  and  opened  her  eyes  ingenuously  for  more.  Mrs.  Edis 
laughed,  a  rare  relaxation  of  those  hard  muscles  under  the 
parchment  skin.  "  Go  and  comb  your  hair,"  she  said,  "and 
make  yourself  as  pretty  as  possible.  Lieutenant  France  is 
coming  to  call  this  afternoon,  and  if  he  does  not  ask  for  your 
hand  to-day,  he  will  to-morrow." 

"What  shall  I  do  with  him?  We  can't  dance.  And  I 
couldn't  think  of  a  thing  to  say  to  him  last  night.  I  could 
to  some  of  the  young  men." 

"The  less  you  say,  the  better  !     I  will  entertain  him." 

Tears  had  threatened  again,  but  they  retreated  at  the 
prospect  of  deliverance  from  an  ordeal  as  formidable  as 
matrimony.  "Mother!"  she  exclaimed  suddenly.  "Why 
don't  you  marry  him  ?  " 

"I?" 

"  Yes.  He'll  be  like  my  father,  anyhow,  and  then  I  should 
not  only  have  you  still,  but  you  could  always  talk  to  him  - 

"Run  and  do  your  hair." 


IV 

JULIA,  her  longing  eyes  fixed  on  the  sea,  where  she  fre 
quently  rowed  at  this  hour  with  one  of  the  old  men-servants, 
had  forgotten  France's  existence.  For  quite  ten  minutes 
after  his  arrival,  she  had  obediently  smiled  upon  him,  giving 
him  monosyllable  for  monosyllable,  and  tried  not  to  com 
pare  him  to  an  elderly  calf.  His  opaque,  agate-gray  eyes 
stared  at  her  with  what  she  styled  a  bleating  ex 
pression,  but  gradually  took  fire  as  her  mind  wandered. 
Mrs.  Edis  talked  more  than  she  had  done  for  many  years, 
to  cover  the  defection  of  her  naughty  little  daughter. 

Nevertheless,  she  divined  that  Julia's  unaffected  indiffer 
ence  was  developing  the  instinct  of  the  hunter  to  spur  the 
passion  of  the  lover,  reflected  that  an  ignorant  girl  babbling 
nonsense  would  have  detracted  from  the  charm  of  the  pic 
ture  Julia  made  by  the  window  in  her  white  frock,  staring 
through  the  jalousies  with  the  wistfulness  of  youth.  But 
when  France  began  to  scowl  and  move  restlessly,  she  said:  - 

"Julia,  run  out  into  the  garden,  but  do  not  go  far.  Mr. 
France  will  join  you  presently." 

Julia  had  disappeared  before  the  order  was  finished. 
Mrs.  Edis  studied  the  man's  face  still  more  keenly  for  a  few 
moments,  the  while  she  discoursed  about  poverty  in  the 
West  Indies. 

There  alone  in  the  big  dim  room  something  about  the 
man  subtly  repelled  her,  and  her  active  mind  sought  for 
the  cause  even  while  talking  with  immense  dignity  upon  the 
only  topic  of  general  interest  in  her  narrow  life.  She  had 
seen  little  of  the  great  world,  but  a  good  deal  of  dissipated 
men,  and  France  had  none  of  the  insignia  to  which  she 
was  accustomed.  His  bronzed  cheeks,  although  cleft  by 
ugly  lines,  were  firm;  his  eyes  were  clear,  and  the  lines 
about  them  might  have  been  due  to  exposure,  laughter,  or 

29 


3o  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  HER  TIMES 

midnight  study.  His  nose  was  thin,  his  mouth  invisible 
under  a  heavy  moustache,  but  assuredly  not  loose.  The 
truth  was  that  France  had  not  been  drunk  for  a  month, 
and  having  a  superb  constitution  would  look  little  the  worse 
for  his  methodical  sprees  until  his  stomach  and  heart  were  a 
few  years  older.  His  grizzled  close-cropped  hair  did  not  set 
off  his  somewhat  primitive  head  to  the  best  advantage,  but 
his  figure,  carriage,  grooming,  were,  to  Mrs.  Edis's  provin 
cial  eyes,  those  of  a  proud  and  self-respecting  man. 

As  the  planets  were  reticent  on  some  subjects,  and  as  she 
truly  loved  her  daughter,  she  determined  to  satisfy  her 
curiosity  at  first  hand,  and  lay  her  scruples  if  possible. 

"Is  it  true  that  you  are  dissipated  ?"  she  asked  abruptly. 

He  flushed  a  dark  slow  red,  but  his  brain,  abnormally 
alive  to  the  instinct  of  self-protection,  worked  more  rapidly. 

"I've  gone  the  pace,  rather,"  he  said,  in  his  well-modu 
lated  voice.  "Nothing  out  of  the  common,  however. 
Sick  of  it,  too.  Wouldn't  care  if  I  never  saw  alcohol  —  or 
-  ah  —  any  of  the  other  things  you  call  dissipations, 
again." 

He  delivered  this  so  simply  and  honestly  that  a  more 
experienced  woman  would  have  believed  him. 

"Who  told  you  I  was  dissipated?"  he  added.  "The 
Captain?  He  don't  like  me.  He's  a  bounder  and  has 
social  aspirations.  I've  never  asked  him  to  my  club  in 
London,  or  to  Bosquith.  That's  all  there  is  to  that." 

"Ah  !"  Mrs.  Edis  had  not  liked  the  Captain;  this  ex 
planation  was  plausible.  "Why  have  you  come  here  to 
day?"  she  asked  abruptly.  "Do  you  wish  to  marry  my 
daughter?" 

France  would  have  liked  to  do  his  own  wooing,  nibbling 
its  uncommon  delights  daily,  until  the  sojourn  at  St.  Kitts 
was  almost  exhausted.  He  was  an  epicure  of  sorts,  even  in 
his  coarser  pleasures.  But  he  had  been  warned  that  in  Mrs. 
Edis  he  had  no  ordinary  mother  to  deal -with,  and  he  an 
swered  her  with  responsive  directness. 

"I  do.  She's  the  first  girl  I've  ever  wanted  to  marry. 
Do  you  think  she'll  have  me  ?  " 


MRS.   EDIS  31 

His  voice  trembled,  his  face  flushed  again.  He  looked 
ten  years  younger.  Mrs.  Edis's  doubts  vanished. 

"She'll  do  what  I  bid  her  do.  I  wish  her  to  marry  you. 
Of  course  she  cares  nothing  for  you,  as  yet.  You  will  have 
to  win  her  with  kindness  and  consideration  after  she  marries 
you.  You  can  see  her  here  every  day,  if  you  wish  it,  and 
for  a  few  moments  in  the  garden,  alone.  But  don't  expect 
to  make  much  headway  with  her  before  marriage.  She  is 
full  of  romantic  dreams,  and  —  and  —  very  innocent." 

His  eyes  flashed  with  an  expression  to  which  she  had  no 
key,  but  it  gave  way  at  once  to  suspicion,  and  he  asked 
sombrely :  — 

"Is  she  in  love  with  any  one  else?" 

"She  never  exchanged  a  sentence  with  a  young  man 
before  last  night,  and  you  monopolized  her." 

There  was  a  curious  motion  behind  his  heavy  moustache, 
but  it  was  brief  and  his  eyes  looked  foolishly  sentimental. 

"  Good  !  Good  ! "  he  said,  with  what  sounded  like  youth 
ful  ardor.  "That's  the  girl  for  me.  They're  gettin'  rarer 
every  day." 

"One  thing  more.  We  are  very  poor.  I  can  settle  noth 
ing  upon  her." 

For  the  first  time  in  his  life  France  felt  really  virtuous, 
and  was  more  than  ever  convinced  that  his  youth  (although 
he  had  quite  forgotten  what  it  was  like)  had  been  resur 
rected. 

"Glad  of  it,  Mrs.  Edis.  You'll  be  the  more  convinced 
that  I'm  jolly  well  in  earnest.  Give  you  my  word,  it's  the 
first  time  I  ever  proposed." 

This  was  impressive,  but  the  old  lady  continued  to  probe. 
"The  Captain  also  said  that  you  were  very  much  in  debt." 

"Rather.  But  my  cousin  clears  me  up  every  year  or  so. 
We're  jolly  good  pals.  Besides,  I  have  an  annuity  from 
the  estate.  And  he's  always  said  he'd  settle  another  thou 
sand  a  year  on  me  the  day  I  married.  That'll  do  for  the 
present  to  keep  a  wife  on.  Think  I'll  chuck  the  navy  and 
M-ttli'  down.  Have  a  jolly  little  place  in  good  huntin' 
country  —  HrrtfonUhire." 


32  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"You  have  great  expectations,  also,"  pursued  the  old 
lady,  looking  past  him. 

"Ah!  Yes!  But  my  cousin's  rather  better--"  He 
scowled  heavily.  "What  luck  some  people  have,"  he  burst 
out.  "My  father  and  his  were  twins  —  only  mine  was  one 
minute  too  late.  And  I  need  money  and  he  don't.  Keeps 
me  awake  sometimes  thinkin' of  the  ways  of  fate  —  must 
have  had  a  grudge  against  me.  Then  I  think, '  what's  the 
use  ?  Can't  help  it.  And  if  he  don't  get  well  and  marry, 
it'll  be  mine  one  day.' ' 

"You  will  inherit  that  great  title  and  estate,"  said  Mrs. 
Edis,  piercing  him  with  her  eyes,  as  if  defying  him  to  laugh, 
or  even  to  challenge  her.  "Understand  that  I  am  deeply 
read  in  the  ancient  science  of  astrology,  and  that  my  daugh 
ter  was  born  under  extraordinary  planetary  conditions: 
she  is  a  child  of  Uranus,  with  ruler  in  the  tenth  house  trine 
to  Jupiter.  That  means  power,  an  exalted  position,  lead 
ership.  A  great  title  and  wealth,  and  the  most  famous 
political  and  social  salon  of  her  century  must  be  the  literal 
reading ;  although  if  the  times  were  more  troublous,  I  should 
have  interpreted  the  signs  to  mean  that  she  was  destined 
to  wed  royalty  itself,  to  reign,  in  short.  But  as  her  career 
begins  now,  and  as  you  are  here  so  opportunely,  there  can 
be  no  dispute  as  to  the  true  reading.  You  bring  a  splendid 
gift  in  your  hands :  to  be  a  duchess  of  our  great  country 
is  one  of  the  most  exalted  positions  on  earth.  I  may  add 
that  Venus  in  strong  position  in  the  horoscope  means  much 
feminine  grace  and  charm,  added  to  power.  Make  sure, 
your  wife  will  be  the  most  famous  duchess  in  England." 

France  thought  it  possible  she  was  mad,  but  was  thrilled 
in  spite  of  his  doubts.  The  prophecy,  also,  was  agree 
able. 

"She'd  make  a  rippin'  duchess,"  he  assented  warmly. 

Mrs.  Edis  went  on,  unheeding.  "There  is  a  period  of 
darkness  —  trouble  —  possibly  turbulence  — sometimes  the 
planets  exhibit  a  strange  reserve.  If  it  were  not  for  the 
ultimate  fulfilling  of  the  great  ambitions  I  cherish  for  my 
daughter,  I  should  let  her  marry  no  one  —  that  is  to  say, 


MRS.  EDIS  33 

I  should  instinctively  try  to  prevent  it,  although  the  mar 
riage  is  there  —  writ  as  plainly  - 

"I  hope  it  is  for  this  month.  I  should  like  to  marry  her 
at  once.  We  are  here  for  a  fortnight.  I  can  take  a  cottage 
somewhere.  If  I  am  on  duty  for  a  few  hours  a  day  —  no 
doubt  the  Captain  will  let  me  off  —  he's  afraid  of  me,  any 
how.  Then  she  can  go  direct  to  England  on  the  Royal 
Mail.  If  we  don't  sail  at  the  same  time,  —  if  the  squadron 
goes  to  South  America,  — I'll  cable  my  resignation,  and  leave 
as  soon  as  my  successor  arrives.  My  cousin  will  arrange 
it.  I've  never  cared  for  the  service  —  it's  the  army  gets 
all  the  fun  —  never  would  have  gone  in,  but  my  father  gave 
me  no  choice;  for  a  while  I  found  it  amusin',  and  of  late 
years  I've  stayed  in  to  —  ah  —  spite  Captain  Dundas, 
who'd  give  his  eyes  to  chuck  me  out.  It's  been  a  long  and 
quite  excitin'  game  of  chess,  and  I've  enjoyed  it." 

Again  Mrs.  Edis  felt  uneasy  before  the  expression  of  his 
eyes,  but  she  was  now  in  full  surrender  to  the  planets,  and 
besides,  he  was  looking  sentimental  and  rather  foolish  again, 
a  moment  later,  as  he  burst  out :  - 

"You'll  consent  to  an  immediate  marriage,  Mrs.  Edis?" 
"Yes,"  she  replied  promptly,  although  she  had  no  inten 
tion  of  permitting  him  to  carry  out  the  rest  of  his  program. 
She  had  recognized  her  opportunity  of  playing  him  and  the 
Captain  against  each  other  to  gain  her  own  ends.  "Now 
you  can  go  out  into  the  garden,"  she  added  graciously. 
"And  it  will  give  me  pleasure  if  you  will  remain  to  supper." 
But  his  visit  to  the  garden  was  brief.  Julia,  who  was 
wandering  about  the  grove  of  cocoanut,  banana,  and  shad 
dock  trees  which  made  a  romantic  jungle  of  the  large  space 
in  front  of  the  house,  ran  past  him  into  the  living  room, 
and  although  she  did  not  attempt  to  deprive  him  of  the 
sight  of  her  again,  and  only  stirred  sharply  and  then  stared 
at  her  hands  when  her  mother  announced  the  betrothal,  he 
was  obliged  to  leave  at  nine  o'clock  without  having  had  a 
word  with  her  alone.  He  swore  all  the  way  down  the  moun 
tain,  his  appetite  so  whetted  that  it  required  an  exercise  of 
will  to  steer  straight  for  the  ship  instead  of  returning  and 


34  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

raiding  the  house.  He  was  unaccustomed  to  any  great 
amount  of  self-control,  his  haughty  spirit  dictating  that  all 
things  should  be  his  by  a  sort  of  divine  right.  This  over 
weening  opinion  of  himself  did  not  prevent  him  from  obtain 
ing  his  ends  by  cunning  when  direct  methods  failed,  and 
to-night  reason  dictated  that  only  patience  for  a  few  days 
would  avail  him.  But  he  was  so  rude  to  the  Captain,  de 
liberately  baiting  him  in  his  desire  to  make  some  one  as 
angry  as  himself,  that  he  was  forbidden  to  leave  the  ship 
on  the  following  day.  For  the  moment,  as  he  received  this 
order,  the  Captain  thought  he  was  about  to  spring;  but 
France,  with  an  abrupt  laugh,  turned  on  his  heel  and  went 
to  his  cabin. 


THE  President  sat  on  the  lawn  of  Government  House 
reading  from  a  sheaf  of  cablegrams  to  a  group  of  interested 
guests.  In  this  fashion  came  daily  to  St.  Kitts  the  impor 
tant  news  of  the  world  ;  after  submission  to  the  President, 
it  was  nailed  on  the  court-house  door,  and  then  printed  in 
a  leaflet,  called  by  courtesy  a  newspaper.  If  it  arrived 
when  the  President  was  entertaining,  he  always  read  it  to 
his  guests,  and  the  little  scene  was  one  of  the  most  primitive 
and  picturesque  in  that  land  of  contradictions  and  surprises. 
Far  removed  from  the  barbarism  of  utter  discomfort,  with 
rigid  social  laws,  and  a  proud  and  dignified  aristocracy, 
these  smaller  islands  of  the  English  groups  are  equally  inno 
cent  of  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  modern  civilization. 

Behind  the  house  a  party  of  young  people  had  not  inter 
rupted  their  game  of  croquet,  and  Julia,  who  was  taking 
her  first  lesson,  was  as  oblivious  to'  the  news  of  the  great 
world  she  so  longed  to  enter  as  to  the  prospect  of  marrying 
a  man  who  was  mercifully  absent. 

Two  of  the  group  about  the  President's  chair  also  dis 
engaged  themselves  as  soon  as  the  reading  finished,  instead 
of  lingering  to  comment.  One  was  Mrs.  Edis,  always  in 
different  to  mundane  affairs,  and  the  other  Captain  Dundas, 
who  saw  his  opportunity  to  have  a  few  words  alone  with 
the  mother  of  Julia.  He  had  made  up  his  mind  to  speak, 
and  was  the  man  to  find  his  chance  if  one  failed  to  present 
itself.  He  led  her  to  a  chair  under  a  palm,  whose  leaves 
spread  just  above  her  head  when  seated,  and  she  was  glad 
of  the  shade  and  rest.  The  Captain  took  a  chair  opposite. 
He  would  have  liked  to  smoke,  but  dared  not  ask  per 
mission  of  a  woman  whose  skirts  had  been  made  to  wear 
over  a  crinoline.  However,  he  was  quite  capable  of  arriv 
ing  at  the  sticking  point  without  the  friendly  aid  of  tobacco. 
nil  the  direct  mind  of  his  profession,  he  began  abruptly  : 
35 


36  JULIA   FRANCE  AND  HER  TIMES 

"Madam,  there's  something  I've  got  to  say,  and  I  may 
as  well  get  it  out.  France  "  (he  utterly  disregarded  the 
menacing  glitter  in  the  eyes  opposite)  "means  to  marry 
your  daughter,  and  I  mean  that  he  shan't.  If  you  don't 
listen  to  me  here"  (Mrs.  Edis  was  planting  her  stick),  "I'll 
say  it  before  the  whole  company." 

Mrs.  Edis  sat  back.  The  Captain  went  on,  breathing 
more  deeply.  "It's  all  very  well  for  you  to  say  that  you 
know  the  world,  Mrs.  Edis,  because  you  have  seen  a  few 
dissipated  men  and  unfaithful  husbands.  The  Harold 
Frances  haven't  come  into  your  ken.  Only  the  high  civili 
zations  breed  them.  There  are  plenty  like  him,  not  only 
in  England,  but  in  Europe  and  the  new  United  States  of 
America.  They  are  responsible  for  some  of  the  unhappiest 
women  in  the  world,  perhaps  for  the  revolt  of  woman  against 
man.  It  isn't  only  that  they  are  petty  but  absolute  ty 
rants  in  the  home ;  clever  women  can  always  circumvent 
that  sort ;  but  they're  the  kind  that  debase  their  wives, 
treating  them  like  mistresses,  to  whom  nothing  exists  in  the 
world  but  sex,  and  as  they  are  vilely  blase,  the  sort  of  sex 
which  is  but  the  scientific  term  for  love  has  long  since  been 
forgotten  by  them,  if  they  ever  knew  it.  Many  are  born 
old,  perverted  by  too  much  ancestral  indulgence.  All  sorts 
of  books  are  being  written  to  protect  the  poor  girl  from  the 
seducer,  or  the  man  who  would  sell  her  into  the  life  of  the 
underworld  ;  it  seems  to  me  it  is  time  some  one  should  start 
a  crusade  in  behalf  of  the  well-born,  the  delicately  nurtured, 
the  women  with  inherited  brains  who  might  be  of  some 
use  in  the  world  if  not  broken  or  hardened  by  the  roues 
they  marry.  Mind  you,  I'm  no  silly  old  saint.  I'm  not 
inveighing  against  the  young  blood  who  sows  a  few  wild 
oats;  I'm  after  the  scalp,  as  the  Americans  say,  of  the 
thousands  in  the  upper  classes  that  are  bad  all  through,  like 
Harold  France,  and  who'll  get  worse  every  day  of  their 
lives.  Do  you  follow  me,  ma'am?" 

"I  don't  think  I  do.  The  whole  subject  is  one  which  I 
have  never  discussed  with  any  man,  and  is  deeply  repug 
nant  to  me,  but  as  my  child's  happiness  is  at  stake,  I  waive 


MRS.   EDIS  37 

my  own  feelings.     Please  go  into  details.    Just  what  do 
you  mean?" 

The  Captain  gasped.  "  I  —  well  —  I  —  can't  do  that 
exactly,  you  know,"  he  stammered,  wiping  his  face  with 
his  large  red  silk  handkerchief.  "But  —  you  see,  the  bad 
women  —  and  men  —  of  the  great  capitals  of  the  earth  - 
have  taught  these  young  bloods  too  much.  Some  it  don't 
hurt.  There's  plenty  of  good  men  in  the  upper  world,  even 
when  they  have  been  a  bit  wild  in  their  youth ;  but  men 
like  France  —  with  a  rotten  spot  in  the  brain  - 

The  old  lady  sat  erect.  "Do  you  mean  to  say  that 
France  is  insane?" 

Here  was  the  Captain's  opportunity.  But,  after  the 
mental  confusion  of  the  night  of  the  ball,  not  only  was  he 
disposed  to  question  what  had  seemed  at  the  moment  a 
flash  of  illumination,  but  he  knew  the  pickle  awaiting  him 
if  he  accused  a  man  in  France's  position  of  insanity.  He 
was  risking  much  as  it  was ;  he  was  not  brave  enough  for 
more.  He  had  his  own  and  his  family's  interests  to  con 
sider.  A  suit  for  slander  would  relegate  him  to  private  life, 
unhonored  cither  as  admiral  or  knight.  His  wife  desired 
passionately  to  be  addressed  by  servants  and  other  inferiors 
as  "  my  lady." 

"Well  —  no  —  I  can't  say  that  - 

"  I  ask  you  to  answer  me  yes  or  no.  Have  you  ever  seen 
Mr.  France  do  anything  which  leads  you  to  believe  him  a 
lunatic  —  for  that,  I  infer,  is  what  you  mean  by  a  rotten 
spot.  And  if  you  have,  why,  may  I  ask,  have  you  been  so 
insensible  to  your  duty  as  to  permit  him  to  remain  in  the 
navy  ?  " 

"Oh,  I  assure  you,  madam,  you  misunderstand.  A  man 
may  have  a  rotten  spot  in  his  brain,  which  will  make  him 
a  horror  to  live  with,  and  yet  be  as  sane  as  you  or  I." 

Mrs.  Edis  leaned  back.  "You  have  described  to  me  a 
man  precisely  like  my  husband.  He  drank  too  much,  he 
thought  too  much  of  love-making  when  he  was  young,  but 
he  got  over  it.  I,  as  a  dutiful  wife,  resigned  myself.  That, 
I  fancy,  is  the  history  of  nine  out  of  ten  wives.  After  all, 


38  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

we  have  a  great  many  other  things  to  attend  to.     Husbands 
soon  become  an  incident." 

"Oh,  dear  !  Oh,  dear  !"  The  Captain  cast  about  des 
perately  in  his  mind.  Meanwhile  Mrs.  Edis  also  was  think 
ing  rapidly.  Such  fears  as  he  may  have  excited  having  been 
laid,  she  reverted  to  her  original  purpose  to  hoodwink  him. 

She  sat  erect  with  one  of  her  abrupt  movements  and 
brought  her  cane  down  into  the  gravel.  "In  a  way  you 
are  right!"  she  said  harshly.  "Men!  I  hate  the  lot  of 
them.  After  all,  why  should  my  girl  marry  now?  If  she 
and  France  want  to  marry,  let  them  try  the  experiment  of  a 
long  engagement  —  two  years,  at  least.  I  will  talk  to  him 
-  put  him  on  probation.  Let  him  resign  from  the  navy 
when  he  returns  to  England  and  settle  down  here  under  my 
eye." 

"  Good  !  Good  ! "  exclaimed  the  Captain,  who  knew  that 
France  would  never  return. 

"During  this  visit,  I'll  probe  him,  watch  him  with  my 
girl.     If  I  don't  approve  of  him,  I'll  ask  you  to  keep  him  - 
on  board  until  you  leave.     In  any  case,  he  shall  consent 
to  an  engagement  of  two  years.     Will  you  assist  me  ?" 

"Certainly,  ma'am,  certainly." 

And  so  the  fate  of  Julia  France  was  sealed. 


BOOK    II 
THREE   POTTERS 


LONDON  once  a  year  has  a  brief  spell  of  youth,  during 
which  she  is  surpassingly  beautiful,  gay,  insolent,  and  very 
nearly  as  vivid  and  riotous  as  the  tropics.  Her  gray  be- 
sooted  old  masses  of  architecture  are  but  the  background 
for  green  parks  where  swans  sail  on  slowly  moving  streams; 
thousands  of  window  boxes,  flaunting  red,  white,  and  yel 
low;  miles  of  plate-glass  windows,  whose  splendid  display, 
whether  torn  from  the  earth,  or  representing  unthinkable 
toil  at  the  loom,  the  rape  of  the  feathered  tribe,  or  countless 
brains  no  longer  laid  out  in  cells  but  in  intricate  patterns,  of 
lace,  hot  veldts  where  the  ostrich,  quite  indifferent  to  the  de 
pletion  of  his  tail,  walks  as  absurdly  as  the  pupil  of  Delsarte, 
slaughter-houses  of  hideless  beasts,  compensated  in  death 
with  silver  and  gold,  the  ravishing  of  greenhouses,  and  the 
luscious  fruits  that  grow  only  between  earth  and  glass,  — 
all  these  wonders  lining  curved  streets  and  crowded  "  cir 
cuses,"  challenge  the  coldest  eye  above  the  tightest  purse. 
And  in  the  fashionable  streets  during  the  morning  are 
women  as  pretty  and  gay  of  attire  as  the  flower  beds  in  the 
Park,  where  they  display  themselves  of  an  afternoon. 

Julia,  happy  in  her  own  unsullied  eager  youth,  made 
the  acquaintance  of  London  when  that  seasoned  old  dame 
was  taking  her  yearly  elixir  of  life,  and  thought  herself  come 
to  Paradise.  She  had  hardly  a  word  for  her  aunt,  Mrs. 
Winstone,  who  had  met  her  at  the  railway  station,  but 
twisted  her  neck  to  look  at  the  shop  windows,  the  hoary  old 
palaces  and  churches,  the  passing  troops  of  cavalry,  gor 
geous  as  exotics,  the  monuments  to  heroes,  the  bare-kneed 
Scot  in  his  kilt,  and  the  Oriental  in  his  turban.  It  was  Mrs. 
Winstone's  hour  for  driving,  and  as  her  young  guest's  frock 
had  not  been  made  for  Hyde  Park,  and  Julia  had  laughed 
when  asked  if  she  were  tired,  the  constitutional  was  taken 
through  the  streets  and  in  or  about  the  smaller  park<.  The 


42  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  HER  TIMES 

coachman  was  far  too  haughty  himself  to  venture  beyond 
the  West  End,  or  even  to  skirt  those  purlieus  which  lie  at  its 
back  doors. 

Julia's  eyes,  wide  and  star-like  as  they  were,  missed  not 
a  detail,  and  she  felt  as  happy  as  on  the  night  of  her  first 
party.  The  journey  had  been  monotonous,  the  passengers, 
when  not  ill,  rather  dull.  Therefore  was  her  plastic  mind 
shaped  to  drink  down  in  great  draughts  the  pleasures  prom 
ised  by  the  city  of  her  dreams.  Moreover,  never  in  her  life 
had  she  felt  so  well.  The  eighteen  days  at  sea,  the  whole 
some  food,  the  constant  exercise  in  which  a  good  sailor 
always  indulges,  if  only  to  get  away  with  the  time,  long 
days  in  cold  salt  air,  had  crimsoned  her  blood,  vitalized 
every  organ.  France  and  the  reason  of  her  translation  to 
Lopdon  she  had  almost  forgotten.  There  had  been  a  hur 
ried  marriage  at  Great  House;  then,  almost  before  the  wine 
had  been  tasted,  the  indignant  bridegroom  had  been  sum 
moned  to  his  ship,  which,  with  the  rest  of  the  squadron,  had 
sailed  two  hours  later.  There  had  been  a  succession  of  in 
furiated  letters,  mailed  at  the  different  islands,  and  Julia 
knew  that  France  intended  to  leave  the  service  as  soon  as 
he  set  foot  in  England  ;  but  as  that  could  not  be  for  weeks 
to  come,  she  had  dismissed  him  from  her  mind. 

"Shall  I  live  here?"  she  asked  at  length,  as  they  drove 
down  the  wide  Mall,  one  of  the  finest  avenues  in  Christen 
dom,  and  half  rising  to  look  at  Buckingham  Palace. 

"You  should  know."  Mrs.  Winstone  had  received  only 
a  cablegram  from  her  sister.  "France  has  a  house,  a  bit 
of  a  place  in  Hertfordshire,  but  only  rooms  in  town,  so  far 
as  I  know.  The  duke,  however,  may  ask  you  to  stop  with 
him  in  St.  James's  Square  —  for  a  bit.  He  seems  enchanted 
to  get  France  married,  but  it  is  rather  fortunate  that  I  have 
known  him  for  years  and  can  vouch  for  you.  France,  re 
turning  with  a  bride  from  the  antipodes  —  well  - 

"Of  course  the  duke  would  expect  some  one  much  older, 
Mr.  France  is  so  old  himself.  But  I'm  glad  he  doesn't 
mind,  for  I  want  to  live  in  castles.  It's  too  bad  Mr.  France 
hasn't  one." 


THREE   POTTERS  i 

"Is  that  what  you  married  France  for?  I  have  won 
dered." 

Julia  shrugged  her  restless  young  shoulders,  and  looked 
at  the  carriages  full  of  finery  rolling  between  the  columns 
of  Hyde  Park. 

"Mother  told  me  to  marry  him  and  I  did,  of  course.  I 
have  known,  ever  since  I  was  about  eight,  that  I  was  to 
marry  at  this  time  and  start  upon  some  wonderful  career, 
for  there's  no  getting  the  best  of  the  planets.  I  had  to  take 
the  man  who  came  along  at  the  right  moment." 

Mrs.  Winstone  was  one  of  those  extremely  smart  English 
women  who  put  on  an  expression  of  youthful  vacuity  with 
their  public  toilettes,  but  at  this  point  she  so  far  forgot  her 
self  as  to  sit  up  and  gasp. 

"Not  that  old  nonsense  !  You  don't  mean  to  tell  me 
that  Jane  still  believes  —  why,  I  had  forgotten  the  thing. 
Hinson!  Home!" 

As  the  carriage  turned  and  rolled  toward  Tilney  Street 
Mrs.  Winstone,  really  interested  for  the  first  time,  stared 
hard  at  the  face  beside  her.  Had  she  a  child  on  her  hands  ? 
It  had  been  rather  a  bore,  the  prospect  of  fitting  out  and 
putting  through  her  preliminary  paces  a  young  West  Indian 
bride,  mooning  the  while  for  an  absent  groom.  But  she  had 
never  seen  any  one  look  less  like  a  bride,  more  heart-whole. 

"Do  you  love  France?"  she  asked  abruptly. 

"Of  course  not.  He's  a  horrid  funny  old  thing,  and  his 
eyes  look  like  glass  when  they  don't  look  like  Fawcett's 
when  he's  been  drinking,  poor  darling.  And  some  of  his 
hair  is  gray.  But  of  course  he'll  die  soon  and  then  I'll  have 
a  handsome  young  husband." 

Mrs.  W'instone  regarded  the  tip  of  her  boot.  She  was 
worldly,  selfish,  vain,  envied  this  young  relative  who  would 
one  day  be  a  duchess,  but  she  had  an  abundant  store  of  that 
good  nature  which  is  the  brass  but  pleasant  counterfeit  of 
a  kind  heart.  She  would  not  put  herself  out  for  any  one, 
unless  there  were  amusement  or  profit  in  it  for  her  pampered 
self,  but  she  would  do  so  much  if  there  were,  that  she  had 
the  reputation  of  being  one  of  the  "nicest  women  in  Lon- 


44  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

don."  It  was  a  long  time  —  she  was  a  widow  of  thirty- 
four,  and  enjoyed  a  comfortable  income  —  since  she  had 
felt  a  spasm  of  natural  sympathy,  but  she  put  this  sensation 
to  her  credit  as  she  turned  again  to  the  child  beside  her. 

"I  wish  I  had  gone  down  to  Nevis  last  year,  as  I  half  in 
tended,"  she  remarked.  "It  would  have  been  good  for  my 
nerves,  too.  But  there  is  such  a  vast  difference  between 
the  ages  of  your  mother  and  myself  —  we  are  at  the  oppo 
site  ends  of  a  good  old  West  Indian  family  —  and  we  don't 
get  on  very  well.  If  I  had  —  tell  me  about  the  wedding. 
I  suppose  it  was  a  great  affair.  Where  did  you  go  for  the 
honeymoon?" 

"No,  I  didn't  have  a  fine  wedding.  One  day  Mr .  France 
was  just  calling,  when  the  minister  of  Fig  Tree  Church  was 
also  there,  and  mother  told  us  to  stand  up  and  be  married. 
A  few  minutes  after  a  sailor  came  running  up  with  an  order 
from  the  Captain  to  Mr.  France  to  go  to  the  ship  at  once. 
Before  he  had  a  chance  to  return  the  squadron  sailed.  For 
some  reason  the  Captain  didn't  want  us  to  marry,  and 
mother  was  delighted  at  getting  the  best  of  him.  I  never 
knew  her  to  be  in  such  a  good  humor  as  she  was  all  the  rest 
of  that  day  and  the  next.  But  the  Captain  must  have  been 
as  cross  as  Mr.  France  when  he  found  out  he  was  too  late. 
Mother  and  the  planets  are  too  much  for  anybody." 

Mrs.  Winstone  had  learned  all  she  wished  to  know. 
Mrs.  Edis  would  have  been  wholly  —  no  doubt  satirically 
—  content  with  the  resolution  born  instantly  in  her  sister's 
agile  mind.  France  would  not  arrive  for  a  month  or  six 
weeks.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  make  his  bride  so 
worldly  and  frivolous  that  some  of  this  appalling  innocence 
would  disappear  in  the  process.  Mrs.  Winstone  did  not 
take  kindly  to  the  task,  being  fastidious  and  tolerably 
decent,  but  having  read  the  book  of  life  by  artificial  light 
for  many  years,  could  arrive  at  no  other  solution  of  her 
problem. 

"France  has  been  cabling  frantically  to  be  relieved,  has 
even  sent  his  resignation,  but  either  there  is  no  one  to  take 
his  place  on  such  short  notice,  or  some  one  is  exerting  a 


THREE   POTTERS  45 

counter-influence  —  possibly  your  good  friend,  the  Captain 
-  and  he  must  wait  until  the  squadron  returns.  Mean 
while,  we  shall  not  let  you  miss  him.  The  duke  has  sent 
me  a  check  for  your  trousseau,  and  this  is  the  very  height 
of  the  season  —  here  we  are.  It  is  a  box,  but  I  hope  you 
will  not  be  uncomfortable." 

Among  other  considerations,  Mrs.  Winstone  did  not 
permit  herself  to  forget  that  now  was  her  opportunity  to 
ingratiate  herself  with  a  future  peeress  of  Britain.  "Al 
though  anything  less  like  a  duchess,"  she  thought  grimly 
as  she  laid  her  arm  lightly  about  Julia's  waist  while  ascend 
ing  the  stair,  "  I  never  saw  out  of  America  or  on  the  stage. 
But  the  duke,  good  soul,  will  be  delighted." 

The  house,  small,  like  so  many  in  May  fair,  was  all 
drawing-room  on  the  first  floor,  a  right  angle  of  a  room, 
so  shaped  and  furnished  as  to  give  it  an  air  of  spaciousness. 
The  front  window  was  open  to  the  flower  boxes;  there  was 
a  narrow  conservatory  across  the  back,  which  added  to  its 
depth.  Above  were  one  large  bedroom  and  two  small 
ones;  and  those  of  the  servants,  a  flight  higher,  were  a 
disgrace  to  civilization. 

But  all  that  was  intended  for  polite  eyes  presented  a 
picture  of  ease,  luxury,  taste,  smartness ;  moreover,  had 
the  unattainable  air  of  having  been  occupied  for  several 
generations.  Americans  and  other  outsiders,  settling  for 
a  season  or  two  in  London,  spend  thousands  of  pounds  to 
look  as  if  living  in  a  packing-case  of  expensive  goods,  but 
Englishwomen  of  moderate  income,  combined  with  tradi 
tions  and  certain  inheritances,  often  give  the  impression 
of  aristocratic  wealth  and  luxury. 

Captain  Winstone  (recruited  also  from  the  generous 
navy)  had  inherited  the  house  in  Tilney  Str23t  from  his 
mother,  an  old  dame  of  taste  and  fashion,  who,  besides 
careful  weeding  in  the  possessions  of  her  ancestors,  had 
travelled  much  and  bought  with  a  fine  discrimination  that 
was  a  part  of  her  hardy  contempt  for  Victorian  fashions. 
The  house,  with  three  thousand  jx^unds  a  year,  was  Mrs. 
Winstone's  for  so  long  as  she  should  grace  this  planet,  and 


46  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

enabled  her  to  exist,  even  to  pay  her  dressmakers  on 
account,  when  they  made  nuisances  of  themselves.  But 
although  she  would  have  liked  a  great  income,  she  had 
never  been  tempted  to  marry  again,  holding  that  a  widow 
who  sacrificed  her  liberties  for  anything  less  than  a  peerage 
was  a  fool;  and  no  peer  had  crossed  her  path  wealthy 
enough  to  be  disinterested,  or  poor  enough  to  share  her 
humble  dowry  with  gratitude.  She  always  carried  on  a 
mild  flirtation  with  a  tame  cat  a  few  years  younger  than 
herself,  who  would  fetch  and  carry,  and,  if  wealthy,  make 
her  nice  presents.  If  not,  she  fed  him  and  took  him  to 
drive  in  her  Victoria.  Her  heart  and  passions  never 
troubled  her,  but  her  vanity  required  constant  sustenance. 
She  did  not  in  the  least  mind  the  implication  when  the 
infant-in-waiting  was  invited  to  the  country  houses  she 
visited ;  not  only  was  her  vanity  flattered,  but  the  gen 
erous  tolerance  of  her  world  always  amused  her.  She  lived 
on  the  surface  of  life,  and  altogether  was  an  enviable  woman. 
Julia  was  delighted  with  her  little  room,  done  up  in 
fresh  chintz,  too  absorbed  and  happy  to  notice  that  it 
overlooked  a  mews.  A  four-wheeler  had  already  brought 
her  box,  and  a  maid  had  unpacked  her  modest  wardrobe. 
Mrs.  Winstone,  glancing  over  it  with  a  suppressed  sigh, 
told  her  to  put  on  something  white,  as  people  would  drop 
in  for  tea,  then  retired  to  the  large  front  bedroom  to  be 
arrayed  in  a  tea-gown  of  pink  chiffon  and  much  French 
lace. 


II 

MRS.  WINSTONE,  an  excessively  pretty  woman,  with 
blue  eyes  and  fair  hair,  and  a  fresh  complexion  responsive 
to  the  arts  of  rejuvenation,  seated  herself  before  the  tea-table 
and  arranged  her  expression,  determined  not  to  betray  her 
feelings  when  Julia  entered  in  a  white  muslin  frock  made 
by  the  seamstress  of  Nevis.  But  as  Julia,  with  all  the 
confidence  of  an  only  child  (such  had  practically  been  her 
position),  entered  smiling,  her  hair  pinned  softly  about  her 
head,  Mrs.  Winstone's  own  spontaneous  smile,  which  did 
so  much  for  her  popularity,  without  seaming  the  satin  of 
her  skin,  responded.  She  saw  at  once  what  had  dawned 
upon  even  Mrs.  Edis's  provincial  and  scientific  mind,  that 
the  girl  at  least  knew  how  to  put  on  her  clothes,  that  she 
could  wear  white  muslin  and  a  blue  sash  and  neck  ribbon 
with  an  air. 

"We  shall  have  jolly  times  with  the  shops  and  dress 
makers,"  she  said  warmly.  "We'll  begin  to-morrow 
morning.  You  are  to  be  presented  at  the  last  drawing- 
room  and  must  go  into  training  at  once.  The  duke  wishes 
it.  Really,  I  didn't  think  there'd  be  anything  so  excitin' 
this  season  as  puttin'  the  wife  of  Harold  France  through 
her  paces.  How  do,  Algy?" 

She  extended  a  finger  to  a  young  man  who  lounged  in 
with  a  bored  expression,  and  a  dragging  of  one  foot  after 
the  other  that  suggested  excesses  which  were  preparing 
him  for  an  early  grave;  in  truth,  he  was  a  virtuous  and 
timid  younger  son,  who,  being  able  to  afford  but  one  vice, 
chose  cigarettes,  and  in  the  privacy  of  his  room  —  he  lived 
at  home  —  smoked  the  economical  American. 

Mrs.  Winstone,  with  the  vagueness  of  her  kind,  mur 
mured,  "my  niece,"  and  poured  him  out  a  cup  of  tea, 
while  embarking  smartly  upon  a  tide  of  gossip  ancnt 

47 


48  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

"Sonnys"  and  "Berties,"  " Mollys"  and  "Vickys,"  to 
which  Julia  had  no  key.  But  she  was  quite  content  to  be 
ignored,  being  entirely  happy,  and  deeply  interested  in 
her  aunt  and  her  new  surroundings.  With  a  quick  and 
appreciative  instinct  she  admired  the  rectangular  room 
with  its  soft  light  and  French  furniture,  its  hundred  little 
treasures  from  India  and  the  continent.  The  tea-service 
was  fairy  like,  compared  with  the  massive  pieces  of  Great 
House,  and  eminently  in  harmony  with  the  pretty  butter 
fly  and  her  slender  fluttering  hands.  Mrs.  Winstone,  as 
has  been  intimated,  cultivated  an  expression  of  complete 
ingenuousness,  even  in  animated  conversation,  and  in 
repose  —  as  when  driving  alone,  for  instance  —  looked  so 
drained  of  vulgar  sensations,  of  that  capacity  for  thought 
so  necessary  to  the  middle  classes,  poor  dears,  that  even  an 
Englishman  was  once  heard  to  exclaim  that  he  would  like 
to  throw  a  wet  sponge  at  her.  Her  figure  might  have  been 
taller,  but  it  could  hardly  have  been  thinner,  and  carried 
smart  gowns  as  an  angel  carries  her  natural  feathers. 
Women  liked  her,  not  only  for  the  reasons  given,  but 
because  her  acute  intelligence  chose  that  they  should, 
and  men  liked,  sometimes  loved,  her  because  she  knew 
them  as  well  as  she  did  women,  and  managed  them  accord 
ingly. 

Her  present  adorer,  Lord  Algernon  FitzMifT,  was  tall, 
loose-jointed,  with  sleek  brown  hair,  a  mathematical 
profile,  and  beautiful  clothes.  He  would  never  pay  his 
tailor ;  never,  unless  he  caught  an  heiress,  own  a  thousand 
pounds.  But  at  least  a  Chinaman  on  his  first  visit  to 
England  would  never  have  taken  him  for  a  member  of  the 
middle  class;  and  when  a  man  is  no  disgrace  to  "his 
order,"  who  shall  maintain  that  his  life  is  wasted  ? 

Julia,  finding  him  even  less  interesting  than  her  husband, 
was  on  the  other  side  of  the  room  admiring  an  old  bronze 
brought  to  England  in  the  palmy  days  of  the  East  India 
Company,  when  three  visitors  were  announced :  — 

"Mrs.  Macmanus,  Mr.  Pirie,  Mr.  Nigel  Herbert." 

"Dear  Julia!"  cried  Mrs.  Winstone,  in  a  tone  which, 


THREE   POTTERS  40 

although  subdued,  made  an  effect  of  floating  across  space 
until  the  drawing-room  seemed  immense,  ''come  and  meet 
my  friends." 

Julia,  born  without  mauvaise  honte,  passed  the  ordeal 
of  introduction  in  a  fashion  which  delighted  her  aunt,  and 
sat  down  under  the  lorgnette  of  Mrs.  Macmanus. 

This  intimate  friend  of  Mrs.  Winstone  was  also  in  her 
thirty-fifth  year,  but  enormously  rich,  as  lazy  of  body  as 
she  was  quick  of  mind,  and,  inclined  to  gout,  quite  indif 
ferent  to  both  youth  and  clothes.  Her  black  frock  would 
not  have  been  worn  by  her  maid,  her  stays  were  of  the  old 
school,  her  hair  was  parted,  and  about  her  eyes  were  many 
amiable  lines.  There  were  those  who  maintained  that  she 
was  a  snob  of  the  subtlest  dye,  daring  to  look  like  a  frump 
because  of  her  income  and  her  ramifications  in  the  peerage; 
but  they  were  quite  wrong.  Mrs.  Macmanus  was  so  little 
of  a  snob  that  she  rarely  recognized  snobbery  in  others, 
hated  every  variety  of  discomfort,  and  could  not  have  been 
more  amiable  and  kind-hearted  had  she  been  poor  and  a 
nobody. 

Mr.  Pirie,  although  only  forty-five,  was  already  an  old 
beau.  Left  with  an  income  sufficient  for  a  luxurious  bache 
lor,  too  selfish  to  ask  the  present  Mrs.  Macmanus  to  share 
it  when  she  was  a  penniless  girl,  and  with  none  of  the 
recommendations  essential  to  the  capture  of  predatory 
heiresses,  he  had  lived  for  twenty-five  years  in  very  com 
fortable  rooms  in  Jermyn  Street,  dining  out  every  night 
during  the  season,  taking  his  yearly  waters  at  Carlsbad, 
visiting  at  country  houses.  In  no  way  distinguished,  people 
wondered  sometimes  why  they  continued,  year  after  year, 
to  invite  him ;  but  he  had  been  astute  enough  to  hang  on 
until  he  had  become  a  fixed  habit,  and  now,  should  any  of 
the  ailments  which  come  from  too  much  dining  with  owners 
of  chefs  take  him  off,  he  would  have  been  sincerely  missed 
for  a  season;  he  was  a  good-natured  gossip,  who  could  put 
vitriol  on  his  tongue  at  the  unique  moment.  Mrs.  Mac 
manus  had  been  free  for  fifteen  years,  and  he  had  proposed 
to  her  fifteen  times;  but  not  only  was  that  astute  widow 


5o  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

content  with  her  present  state,  but  she  never  quite  forgave 
him  for  not  proposing  before  he  was  obliged  to  wear  a 
toupee.  She  liked  him,  however,  and  gave  him  a  corner  at 
her  fireside.  For  several  years  she  had  tried  to  make  him 
work,  being  of  that  order  of  woman  that  has  no  patience 
with  the  idler.  In  her  youth,  she  had  been  quite  impas 
sioned  on  the  subject,  but  had  learned  that  to  backbone 
the  invertebrate  was  as  easy  as  to  turn  marble  into  flesh. 
When,  a  few  years  later,  the  Americans  discovered  the 
hookworm,  she  concluded  that  half  England  had  it,  and 
became  entirely  charitable. 

Young  Herbert,  who  immediately  carried  his  tea  over 
to  Julia's  side,  was  but  recently  out  of  Oxford,  reading  law 
to  please  his  father  (an  eminently  practical  peer),  but 
quietly  preparing  himself  for  literature.  He  had  a  fresh 
frank  face,  which  refused  to  look  politely  bored,  large  blue 
eyes,  that  danced  at  times  with  youth. and  the  zest  of  life, 
and  although  dressed  with  the  perfection  of  detail  of  a 
Lord  Algy  FitzMiff,  his  movements,  like  his  voice,  were 
often  quick  and  eager.  He  had  been  cultivating  Mrs. 
Winstone  with  a  view  to  succeeding  Lord  Algy,  since  she 
was  so  much  the  fashion,  and  rippin'  besides,  but  she 
vanished  from  his  calculations  the  moment  he  set  eyes  on 
her  niece,  and  never  returned. 

He  had  heard  nothing  of  the  marriage,  Mrs.  Winstone 
with  fashionable  casualness  having  omitted  to  mention 
it,  and  society  being  as  indifferent  to  the  performances  of 
a  man  who  spent  his  leaves  of  absence  in  Paris,  as  to  the 
heir  presumptive  of  an  unfashionable  duke. 

"MissFrance  surely  "hebegan.  But  Julia  bridled. 
She  was  proud  of  her  married  state.  She  sat  up  very 
straight  and.  looked  at  him  primly. 

He  laughed  aloud.  " Really?"  he  asked  ceasingly. 
"Well,  I  suppose  you  are  too  young  to  like  to  be  told  you 
look  so,  but  —  I  can't  take  it  in.  Do  I  know  your  husband, 
perhaps  ?  France  —  there  are  several.  You  are  a  bride, 
of  course." 

"I    have    been    married    just    twenty-four    days.     My 


THREE   POTTERS  51 

husband  is  a  lieutenant  in  the  navy.  He  won't  be  here  for 
a  month  or  two  yet- 

"In  the  navy  —  what  —  what  —  is  his  first  name  ?" 

"Harold.     He  has  a  lot  of  others,  but  I  forget  them." 

"Not  the  Duke  of  Kingsborough's  - 

"Yes,  and  Aunt  Maria  says  perhaps  I  shall  stay  at  some 
of  the  castles  this  year." 

Herbert's  hand  shook  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  put  down 
his  cup.  He  was  almost  a  generation  younger  than  France, 
and  rarely  entered  his  own  club,  but  there  are  some  char 
acters  that  are  known  to  all  men  of  their  class,  however 
unpopular  or  negligible  socially  they  may  be.  Herbert 
felt  a  sensation  of  nausea,  and  for  the  moment  loathed  this 
wonderful  young  creature  that  looked  to  be  composed  of 
light  and  fire.  What  must  she  really  be  made  of  to  have 
fallen  in  love  with  a  man  like  France?  What  sort  of 
hideous  inherited  instincts  had  answered  those  of  a  man 
that  did  not  even  possess  the  common  gift  of  magnetism  ? 
What  had  he  made  of  her  ? 

He  had  been  bred  in  the  severe  school  of  his  class.  His 
composure  returned  and  he  looked  at  her  critically.  Red 
hair.  A  sensual  and  ill-tempered  little  devil,  no  doubt. 
Then  he  encountered  her  eyes,  eyes  so  unmistakably  inno 
cent,  so  different  from  the  eyes  of  the  Mrs.  Winstones, 
with  their  manufactured  ingenuousness,  their  injected 
wonder  at  the  naughtiness  of  the  world. 

But  he  floundered.  "Oh,  of  course.  Castles.  And  of 
course,  Mr.  France  is  very  handsome  —  distinguished." 

Julia  was  staring  at  him  in  open  astonishment.  "Hand 
some?  He  looks  like  a  sheep,  when  he  doesn't  look  like 
a  calf  —  that's  the  way  he  looked  when  he  stared  at  me 
while  mother  was  talking  to  him.  I  had  never  talked  to 
a  man  in  my  life.  He  must  have  thought  me  quite  stupid. 
I  am  sure  he  was  very  kind  to  marry  me." 

"Kind?" 

"Mother  said  he  was  in  love,  but  somehow  —  well,  I 
have  only  read  a  few  of  Scott's  novels  — -  he  doesn't  seem 
much  like  a  lover  to  me.  But  after  I've  seen  the  world  a 


*2  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  HER  TIMES 

bit,  and  read  some  modern  novels,  perhaps  I  shall  under 
stand  Mr.  France  better.  I  should  think  it  would  be  a 
good  thing  to  understand  one's  husband." 

"Rather."  He  was  devoured  with  curiosity,  and 
changed  the  subject  hastily.  "What  is  your  idea  of  a 
man  that  could  make  love,  fall  in  love?"  he  asked,  not  yet 
quite  sure  whether  he  liked  her  well  enough  even  for  a 
mild  flirtation. 

But  Julia  had  liked  him  spontaneously.  His  youth, 
his  breeding,  his  frank  kind  eyes,  the  mere  fact  that  he  was 
the  first  man  near  her  own  age  with  whom  she  had  ever  had 
a  tete-a-tete,  won  her  confidence,  and  fluttered  her  imagi 
nation.  She  regarded  him  dispassionately. 

"You,  I  should  think.     But  I  don't  know  very  much  - 
anything  about  it." 

Was  this  accomplished  coquetry?  But  those  eyes. 
"Will  you  tell  me  where  you  have  come  from?"  he  asked. 
"I  —  I  can't  quite  place  you." 

"From  Nevis,  where  Aunt  Maria  was  born." 

"And  there  are  no  men  there?" 

"No  young  ones.  I  met  Mr.  France  at  my  first  party, 
anyhow.  I  had  no  friends  —  not  even  girls.  My  mother 
is  peculiar  —  a  very  wonderful  woman.  Some  day  I'll 
tell  you  about  her.  But  she  made  up  her  mind  I  was  to 
have  no  friends  until  I  married." 

Herbert   made   another   heroic   attempt   to   repress   his 
curiosity.     "And  why  do  you  think  I  could  fall  in  love- 
really  in  love?" 

"Well  —  you  see  —  you  look  elastic,  springy,  waxy, 
sappy,  like  the  young  trees.  Mr.  France  is  all  made,  hard, 
finished.  He's  like  an  old  tree  with  rough  bark,  and  dry 
inside.  I  suppose  he  could  love  when  he  was  your  age, 
but  he's  years  too  old  now.  I  shall  always  think  of  him  as 
a  father  —  my  father  had  a  son  eighteen  years  old  when 
he  was  Mr.  France's  age  —  and  I  was  eighteen  my  last 
birthday." 

Herbert  drew  a  long  breath.  He  put  his  finger  inside 
his  collar  and  shot  a  glance  at  the  rest  of  the  party.  They 


THREE   POTTERS  53 

were  discussing  the  resignation  of  Gladstone  and  his  in 
dictment  of  the  peers;  English  people,  no  matter  how 
frivolous,  are  never  as  empty-headed  as  Americans  of  the 
same  class.  Moreover,  Mrs.  Winstone  included  several 
flirtations  in  the  curriculum,  and  looked  upon  Herbert  as 
quite  safe. 

The  question  popped  out  irresistibly.  "Then  your 
mother  arranged  the  match  ?" 

"  Of  course." 

"And  —  and  —  you  aren't  in  love  with  your  husband 
now  that  you're  married  to  him?  Girls  often  are,  you 
know." 

"What  difference  does  that  make?" 

"Well  —  I  should  think  France  would  know  how  to 
make  love  even  if  he  couldn't  love  —  I  fancy  you've  hit 
him  off  there." 

"Well,  he  may,  but  I  hope  he  won't.  Forty  !  He  used 
to  talk  a  good  deal  about  wanting  to  settle  down.  So,  I 
suppose  he'll  do  that,  and  I  am  sure  I  could  run  a  house 
as  well  as  mother." 

"Run  a  house  !     Is  that  the  way  he  made  love  to  you ?" 

"He  never  made  love  to  me.  Mother  always  enter 
tained  him,  and  he  had  to  sail  as  soon  as  the  ceremony 
was  over,  instead  of  taking  me  up  into  the  hills,  as  he  had 
planned." 

Herbert  felt  a  wild  sense  of  exultation  and  an  equally 
wild  impulse  to  save  her.  The  finest  type  of  young  Eng 
lishman  inherits  a  deep  and  passionate  tide  of  chivalry, 
and  his  was  whipped  hard  and  high  for  the  first  time.  A 
crime  had  been  committed,  a  worse  one  menaced ;  this  he 
would  avert  if  he  had  to  elope  with  the  child  and  ruin  his 
career.  There  was  no  room  left  in  him  for  humor ;  it 
was  the  best  plan  he  could  think  of.  just  as  Mrs.  Winstone's 
plan  to  make  her  innocent  little  niece  so  frivolous,  worldly, 
and  sophisticated  that  in  a  measure  she  would  be  prepared 
for  life  with  one  of  the  most  blatant  rou6s  in  England. 
was  the  best  her  order  of  brain  could  evolve.  And  Julia, 
plastic,  unawakened,  inexperienced,  gave  the  impression  of 


54  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

being  entirely  agreeable  to  any  plans  that  might  be  made 
for  her. 

Herbert,  young  and  chivalrous  as  he  might  be,  and  still 
able  to  fall  in  love  at  first  sight,  was  the  product  of  the 
highest  civilization  on  earth,  and  in  no  danger  of  making  a 
precipitate  ass  of  himself.  He  also  was  as  subtle  as  a  frank 
and  honest  nature  can  be,  and  he  realized  that  he  must 
proceed  warily.  An  innocent  girl  can  be  repelled  even  by 
a  young  and  attractive  lover,  and  Mrs.  Winstone,  although 
she  would  smile  at  a  flirtation,  would  be  the  last  to  counte 
nance  a  scandal  in  her  family.  Moreover,  it  was  possible 
that  he  might  be  mistaken  in  the  sensations  inspired  by 
this  girl  with  the  big  shining  happy  eyes,  hair  that  looked 
as  if  about  to  crackle,  and  a  sort  of  electric  aura.  He  had 
been  in  love  before,  and  recovered  with  humiliating  facility. 
His  reason  spoke,  but  all  the  rest  of  him  cried  out  that  he 
was  in  love,  desperately  in  love,  that  it  was  the  real  thing, 
at  last.  And  she  needed  him.  That  clinched  the  matter. 

He  changed  the  subject  abruptly,  and,  as  much  as  pos 
sible,  the  current  of  his  thoughts.  "Of  course  Mrs.  Win- 
stone  is  enchanting,  ripping,"  he  announced  warmly. 
"Quite  the  youngest  woman  in  London  "  (this,  without 
insulting  intent).  "But  after  all,  you  are  just  grown,  and 
must  have  friends  of  your  own  age.  My  sister,  alas  !  is 
in  India,  but  one  of  her  pals  married  my  brother  —  and  her 
great  friend,  Lady  Ishbel  Jones  —  we  are  all  great  pals. 
I'm  sure  you'll  like  them  both  - 

"When  shall  I  meet  them?     Are  they  my  age?" 

"Only  a  little  older  —  twenty-three.  Ishbel  was  mar 
ried  when  she  was  nineteen  —  her  husband  is  rather  a 
bounder,  but  unspeakably  rich,  and  she  was  one  of  four 
teen  daughters  of  a  poor  Irish  peer.  Bridgit,  my  sister- 
in-law,  married  for  love  —  my  brother  is  one  of  the  best 
looking  men  in  the  army.  She  married  at  eighteen  —  and 
has  a  little  chap,  but  she's  one  of  the  best  cross-country 
riders  in  England,  and  a  topper  at  golf  and  tennis;  fine 
all-round  sport,  and  loves  society  as  much  as  Ishbel. 
Site's  sweeter,  more  feminine  on  the  outside,  but  no  more 


THREE   POTTERS  55 

of  a  brick,  and  all-thcre-all-thc-time  than    Bridgit.     I'm 
sure  they're  just  the  friends  for  you." 

"I'm  rather  afraid  of  them  ;  they're  really  grown  women, 
and  I  know  quite  well  that  I'm  only  a  child.  I  realized  it 
a  bit  the  night  of  my  first  party  at  Government  House,  when 
I  saw  the  other  girls  flirting;  and  on  the  steamer  they 
teased  me  a  good  deal.  But  I  must  have  some  friends  of 
my  age.  I  am  beginning  to 'long  for  them.  It  is  so  odd 
-  I  was  quite  happy  alone  —  so  long  as  I  knew  nothing 
else.  And  I  didn't  care  to  marry  for  years,  but — "  She 
gave  a  side  glance  at  the  intent  face  as  close  to  hers  as 
the  etiquette  of  the  drawing-room  permitted,  hesitated  an 
instant,  for  she  was  growing  sensitive  about  her  ignorance. 
But  the  friendly  admiring  eyes  reassured  her,  and  out  came 
the  story  of  the  planets.  It  was  the  last  straw.  Herbert 
left  the  house  in  Tilney  Street  feeling  the  one  romantic  man 
in  England,  and  almost  shaking  with  excitement. 


Ill 

THE  duke,  a  dry  ascetic  little  man,  called  on  the  follow 
ing  day  and  approved  of  Julia  at  once.  He  was  not  only 
relieved  that  his  heir  had  married  an  innocent  girl  of  good 
family,  but  youth  was  needed  in  the  house  of  France.  His 
sisters  were  older  and  more  antiquated  than  himself,  and 
now  that  his  health  was  improving,  he  wished  to  give  polit 
ical  parties  and  dinners.  A  beautiful  young  woman  at( 
the  head  of  his  staircase  or  table  was  an  attraction  second 
only  to  a  chef.  He  hoped  she  was  not  quite  a  fool,  and 
invited  her  to  lunch  alone  with  him  in  the  course  of  the 
week,  with  intent  to  ascertain  if  her  mind  was  of  a  quality 
that  would  sprout  the  seeds  he  was  willing  to  implant  —  he 
was  by  way  of  being  intellectual  himself. 

But  it  was  some  time  before  Julia  could  be  drawn  out. 
The  big  gloomy  dining-room,  the  little  man  with  his  dull 
cold  eyes  and  languid  manner,  the  magnificent  footmen, 
four  besides  the  butler,  to  wait  upon  the  two  seated  so  far 
apart  at  the  table,  paralyzed  her  spirits  and  courage. 
Moreover,  she  was  bewildered  and  somewhat  fatigued  by 
five  days  of  shopping,  milliners,  dressmakers,  and  meeting 
many  more  of  her  aunt's  friends.  She  felt  half  disposed 
to  cry,  and  nearly  choked  over  her  food.  The  duke  was 
rather  pleased  by  her  timidity  than  disappointed;  it  was 
not  often  that  he  inspired  awe  (like  all  little  men  without 
personality  it  had  been  the  dream  of  his  life  to  electrify  a 
room  as  he  entered  it,  and  annihilate  with  the  eagle  in  his 
glance),  and,  being  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  he  held 
that  young  females  should  be  diffident  to  their  natural 
lords,  and  modest  withal. 

With  dessert  the  small  army  of  minions  disappeared, 
and  Julia's  face  brightened. 

"I  suppose  I'll  get  used  to  all  this  grandeur  in  time,  but 
aunt  has  only  one  footman,  and  at  home  —  well,  the 

56 


THREE   POTTERS  57 

blacks  take  turns  waiting  on  the  table,  whichever  happens 
to  have  nothing  else  to  do,  and  they  are  part  of  the  family, 
anyhow." 

The  duke  was  shocked,  but  interested ;  shocked  that 
even  a  new  recruit  to  the  ranks  of  the  British  peerage 
should  be  so  frank  about  domestic  poverty,  and  interested 
in  the  innocence  or  the  courage  which  prompted  her  to 
speak  to  the  head  of  the  house  of  France  as  if  he  were  a 
parson's  son. 

44 Quite  so.  Quite  so,"  he  said  genially.  "Harold  has 
rather  a  small  establishment  himself,  but  well  appointed, 
of  course.  Ah  —  it's  let.  I  hope  you  will  spend  the  greater 
part  of  your  time  with  me.  It  is  a  new  experience  to  see 
a  young  face  at  this  table,  and  a  very  delightful  one."  He 
had  never  felt  more  gracious,  and  Julia  smiled  upon  him 
so  radiantly  that  he  expanded  still  further.  "Yes,  you 
must  certainly  live  with  me.  And  Harold  must  stand  for 
Parliament.  Now  that  he  has  resigned  from  the  navy 
that  will  be  the  career  for  him.  We  Frances  always  have 
careers,  we  have  never  been  idlers,  and  I  need  some  one  in 
the  lower  House.  He  cotild  not  choose  a  better  moment. 
The  present  ministry  is  in  a  state  of  dissolution.  You  will 
like  politics,  of  course.  All  intelligent  women  do,  and  more 
than  one  woman  of  this  family  has  been  of  —  ah  —  quite 
material  assistance  to  her  husband." 

"I  don't  know  anything  about  politics,  but  I  can  learn. 
Mother  says  I  must.  When  can  I  go  to  a  castle  ?  " 

The  duke's  mouth  was  close  and  ascetic,  but  it  parted 
in  a  smile  that  was  almost  spontaneous.  "Of  course  you 
want  to  see  a  castle,"  he  said,  teasing  her  graciously.  "All 
children  do." 

Julia  flushed  and  tossed  her  head.  "Well,  I'm  not  so 
sorry  I'm  really  young.  I've  been  in  London  only  a  week, 
but  it  seems  to  me  that  I've  met  hundreds  of  women  who 
think  of  nothing  but  looking  young.  So,  what  is  there  to 
be  ashamed  of?" 

"Or  to  blush  about  ?  I  perceive  that  we  shall  be  famous 
friends.  You  shall  go  to  a  castle  as  soon  as  Harold  returns. 


58  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

I'll  lend  him  Bosquith  for  the  honeymoon.  His  own  box 
would  not  be  half  romantic  enough." 

Julia  had  been  warned  by  her  aunt  not  to  confide  her 
conjugal  indifference  to  the  duke,  but  she  remarked  im 
pulsively  :  — 

"One  couldn't  be  romantic  with  Mr.  France,  anyhow. 
I'd  rather  go  there  by  myself,  or  with  two  or  three  of  my 
new  friends." 

"Great  heavens!"  For  the  first  time  in  his  life  the 
duke  (who  always  conducted  family  prayers  for  the  servants, 
even  in  the  height  of  the  season)  was  almost  profane. 
"  Really  —  upon  my  word  —  you  must  not  say  such  things 
-  nor  feel  them.  I  am  aware  of  the  circumstances  of 
your  marriage,  and  that  you  have  not  had  time  to  learn 
to  love  your  husband  as  a  wife  should,  but  you  must  take 
wifely  love  and  duty  for  granted.  You  are  married  and 
that  is  the  end  of  it.  As  for  romance,  of  course  I  was  only 
joking.  No  doubt  I  was  somewhat  clumsy,  for  I  rarely 
joke ;  romance  does  not  matter  in  the  least,  and  you 
must  look  forward  to  living  with  your  husband  as  the 
highest  of  —  ahem  !  —  earthly  'happiness.  And  I  must 
insist  that  you  do  not  call  Harold  '  Mr.  France.'  It  is  not 
only  unnatural,  but  American.  I  do  not  know  any  Ameri 
cans,  but  am  told  that  the  wives  always  allude  to  their 
husbands  as  'Mr.'  In  a  novel  I  once  read,  'The  Wide, 
Wide,  World,'  they  always  called  them  '  Mr.'  It  must  have 
been  extremely  awkward  !  You  will  remember,  I  hope." 

"  Yes,  sir." 

Julia  looked  down,  and  repressed  a  smile.  She  might 
be  ignorant  and  provincial,  but  she  was  naturally  shrewd 
and  poised ;  the  duke  no  longer  awed  her,  and,  indeed, 
seemed  rather  absurd.  But,  then,  she  had  met  so  many 
absurd  people  in  the  last  few  days.  She  thought  with 
gratitude  upon  young  Herbert  and  his  two  enchanting 
friends,  Bridgit  Herbert  and  Ishbel  Jones.  In  the  wild 
rush  of  her  new  life  they  had  passed  and  repassed  one 
another  like  flashes  of  lightning,  but  there  had  been  distinct 
and  agreeable  shocks,  and  she  was  to  lunch  with  the  two 


THREE    POTTERS  59 

young  women  on  the  morrow.  It  was  a  prospect  that 
consoled  her  for  the  ennui  of  her  ordeal  with  this  quite  nice 
but  very  dull  old  gentleman. 

The  duke,  however,  convinced  that  he  had  made  an 
impression,  and  magnanimously  overlooking  the  indiscre 
tions  of  youth,  kept  her  for  an  hour  longer,  and  gave  her  an 
outline  lesson  in  politics.  He  was  extremely  lucid  and 
chose  his  words  with  the  precision  which  distinguished  all 
tiis  public  utterances  (he  fancied  his  style) ;  also  reminded 
himself  that  he  was  addressing  an  embryonic  intelligence. 
Julia  looked  at  him  with  wide  admiring  eyes  and  thought 
of  Herbert  and  Bridgit  and  Ishbel. 


IV 

THERE  were,  at  this  period  of  their  lives,  no  two  more 
frivolous  and  pleasure-loving  young  women  in  England 
than  Bridgit  Herbert  and  Ishbel  Jones.  The  one,  married, 
three  months  after  she  had  left  the  schoolroom,  the  other 
rescued  suddenly  from  a  ruined  castle  where  food  was  often 
scanty  and  a  travelling  bog  the  only  excitement,  both  had 
thrown  themselves  into  the  complex  pleasures  of  society 
with  such  ardor  and  industry  that  neither  had  yet  found 
time  to  discover  they  were  clever  women  and  their  hus 
bands  two  of  the  dullest  men  in  England. 

Mr.  James  William  Jones  (alluded  to  as  " Jimmy"  to 
please  the  enchanting  Ishbel,  although  men  let  him  alone 
as  much  as  they  decently  could,  unless  greedy  for  tips  of 
the  stock  market,  or  the  salary  of  a  director  on  one  of  his 
boards)  was  as  generous  with  money  as  behoved  a  new 
comer  with  a  beautiful  young  wife,  and  a  passion  for  enter 
taining  the  British  peerage.  He  might  be  a  bore  and  a 
bounder,  but  he  knew  what  he  wanted  and  he  knew  how  to 
get  it.  At  forty  he  was  a  millionnaire,  and,  resting  on  his 
labors  (for  Britons,  unlike  Americans,  know  when  they 
have  enough),  became  aware  that  outside  of  the  City  he 
was  a  nobody.  Simultaneously  he  lifted  his  gaze  to  that 
stellar  world  known  as  Society.  He  read  of  it,  he  stared 
at  it  from  afar  —  a  park  chair  (for  which  he  paid  two 
pence),  an  opera  stall  for  which  he  paid  a  guinea  —  and 
blinked  in  its  radiance.  He  was  first  wistful,  then  angry, 
then  determined.  He  had  many  golden  keys,  but  was  not 
long  in  learning  that  none  would  open  the  door  guarding 
the  golden  stair.  He  was  an  ugly  rather  flat-featured 
Welshman,  with  eyes  like  black  beads  and  the  manners  of 
his  native  village;  he  met  gentlemen  every  day  in  the  City, 
and,  being  a  man  of  facts,  knew  himself  exactly  for  what  he 
was.  Nevertheless,  he  would  win  society  as  he  had  won 

60 


THREE   POTTERS  61 

fortune,  and  (with  no  keen  relish)  admitted  that  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life  he  must  stoop  to  ask  the  aid  of  woman. 
In  other  words,  he  must  get  him  a  wife,  and  she  must  be  a 
lady  of  high  degree.  By  this  time  his  conclusions  were 
rapid.  Being  a  city  millionnaire,  without  youth,  looks,  or 
manners,  he  would  have  to  buy  his  wife.  Ergo,  she  must 
be  poor. 

He  immediately  embarked  upon  a  study  of  the  British 
peerage,  and  with  the  thoroughness  and  capacity  for  detail 
which  play  so  great  a  part  in  the  equipment  of  the  self- 
made,  he  had  within  a  week  a  list  of  impoverished  peers 
long  enough  to  reach  to  France. 

But  how  was  he  to  meet  any  of  them  ?  He  was  a  soli- 
tar}'  man,  having  had  no  time  to  make  friends,  and,  proud 
in  his  way,  risked  no  rebuffs  from  those  suave  well-groomed 
beings  who  honored  the  City  for  its  base  returns.  He  had 
not  even  a  poor  peer  on  one  of  his  boards,  having,  in  the 
old  days,  regarded  them  as  useless  and  dangerous. 

It  was  at  this  point  that  luck  (also  an  ally  of  the  self- 
made)  came  at  his  call.  He  was  plodding  through  a  society 
paper  when  his  eye  was  caught  by  an  editorial  paragraph, 
mysteriously  worded.  He  read  it  several  times,  grasped 
its  meaning,  and,  the  hour  being  propitious,  went  at  once 
to  the  editorial  offices  of  The  Mart,  in  Bond  Street.  Ushered 
into  the  presence  of  the  widowed  and  imixn-erished  lady  of 
some  quality  who  edited  the  sheet,  he  asked  her  bluntly, 
holding  out  the  paragraph,  if  "this  meant  that  she  intro 
duced  people  into  Society  for  a  consideration."  She 
colored  a  dusky  crimson  at  this  coarse  adaptation  of  her 
delicate  literary  style,  but  they  were  not  long  coming  to  an 
understanding,  nevertheless.  She  agreed  with  him  that  his 
only  hope  was  in  a  wife  of  the  right  sort,  and  asked  him  to 
call  again  a  week  later.  When  he  returned,  she  had  his 
record  as  well  as  his  remedy.  With  the  calm  and  brazen 
assurance  of  which  only  the  well-born  thrown  on  their 
upi>ers  are  capable,  she  demanded  a  thousand  pounds  for 
her  letter  of  introduction,  and  another  thousand  if  the 
wedding  came  off.  He  had  always  despised  women  and 


02  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

now  he  laughed  outright ;  nevertheless,  when  he  discovered 
that  the  letter  was  to  a  poor  proud  Irish  peer,  connected 
with  several  of  the  most  notable  families  in  England,  and 
the  melancholy  possessor  of  fourteen  beautiful  daughters, 
ranging  from  thirty-five  years  of  age  to  sixteen,  he  signed 
the  check  and  the  agreement. 

The  desperate  Irish  landlord,  duly  advised  from  London, 
received  him  with  true  Celtic  hospitality,  and  practically 
bade  him  take  his  choice.  As  Lady  Ishbel  was  the  family's 
flower,  Jones  made  up  his  mind  cautiously  and  promptly, 
asking  for  her  hand  on  his  third  visit.  His  leaking  unventi- 
lated  quarters  in  the  village  inn,  and  the  harsh  food  of  the 
peer  (like  many  self-made  men  he  was  on  a  diet)  had 
somewhat  to  do  with  his  rapidity  of  decision. 

Ishbel  wept  sadly  when  she  received  the  paternal  decree, 
for  she  was  young  and  romantic,  and  her  suitor  was  neither. 
But  not  only  had  she  been  taught  from  infancy  that  mar 
riage  was  the  one  escape  from  bogs  and  potatoes,  and, 
like  her  sisters,  had  lived  on  the  forlorn  hope  of  being  in 
vited  to  London  by  more  fortunate  relatives,  but  she  had 
one  of  the  sweetest  and  kindest  natures  in  the  world ;  and 
when  her  mother  wept,  and  her  father  told  her  that  Mr. 
Jones,  moved  to  his  depths  at  the  straits  of  a  member  of 
even  the  Irish  peerage,  had  intimated  that  he  would  make 
him  a  director  of  one  of  his  companies,  with  a  salary  which 
would  insure  him  against  hunger,  and  patch  up  his  castle, 
and  when  her  older  sisters  urged  that  she  might  sacrifice 
her  feelings  in  order  to  marry  them  off  in  turn,  she  dried 
her  beautiful  eyes,  and  consented. 

Mr.  Jones  returned  at  once  to  London  to  prepare  for 
his  bride,  and,  again  with  the  help  of  the  Lady  of  the 
Bureau,  bought  him  a  furnished  house  in  Park  Lane. 
This  fact,  his  many  virtues,  and  his  approaching  marriage 
to  the  " greatest  beauty  in  Ireland"  (the  Lady  of  the 
Bureau  by  this  time  felt  something  like  gratitude  to  her 
victim  and  resolved  to  give  him  a  handsome  return  for 
his  checks)  were  duly  chronicled  in  The  Mart.  The 
marriage  took  place  at  the  beginning  of  the  season,  and 


THREE   POTTERS  63 

Ishbel's  many  relatives  received  her  affectionately  and 
launched  her  at  once,  swallowing  Mr.  Jones  without  a 
grimace.  Thanks  to  Nature,  her  husband's  millions,  and 
the  friendly  Mart,  she  became  a  "beauty"  in  her  first 
season,  and  was  so  intoxicated  with  the  many  and  delec 
table  dishes  offered  her  starved  young  palate,  that  she 
tolerated  and  almost  forgot  her  husband.  He,  in  turn, 
took  little  interest  in  her,  save  as  a  means  to  an  end.  He 
had  bought  her  as  he  had  bought  women  before,  and, 
being  a  plain  matter-of-fact  person,  thought  one  sort 
about  as  good  as  another.  However,  he  gave  her  an  im 
mense  income,  and,  satisfying  himself  that  she  was  honest 
and  virtuous,  in  spite  of  her  irresistible  coquetry,  left  her 
to  her  own  devices. 

She  had  little  education,  and  no  accomplishments,  but 
she  studied  for  an  hour  and  a  half  every  morning  with  the 
best  masters  to  be  found,  and  her  natural  wit  and  charm, 
added  to  her  rich  Irish  beauty,  and  the  sweetness  of  her 
disposition,  endeared  her  even  to  disappointed  mothers, 
and  won  her  something  more  than  popularity  in  the  young 
married  set.  The  woman  with  whom  she  soon  drifted  into 
the  closest  intimacy  was,  apparently,  as  unlike  herself  in 
all  respects  as  possible. 

Bridgit  Marchamely,  educated  with  her  brothers,  and 
highly  accomplished,  inherited  a  fortune  from  her  mother, 
the  only  child  of  a  Liverpool  shipbuilder,  who  had  married 
the  younger  son  of  a  duke.  With  a  mind  both  subtle  and 
powerful,  this  lady  had  ruled  her  husband  during  the 
twenty  years  of  their  happiness,  brought  up  her  children  to 
think  for  themselves,  and  played  with  society  when  it 
suited  her  convenience.  Bridgit,  the  last  of  her  four  chil 
dren,  was  the  only  girl,  and  with  her  fine  upstanding  figure, 
her  flashing  black  eyes  and  spirited  nostrils,  looked  as  gallant 
a  boy  as  any  of  her  brothers  when  she  rode  astride  to  hounds 
in  the  privacy  of  her  grandfather's  estate  in  Yorkshire. 
In  spite  of  what  her  tutors  called  her  masculine  brain, 
however,  she  was  no  traitor  to  her  sex,  and  fell  madly  in 
love  with  a  handsome  guardsman  in  the  first  week  of  her 


64  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

first  season.  Her  father  thought  young  Herbert  "rather 
an  ass,"  but  failing  to  convince  his  daughter,  gave  his 
consent  to  the  match ;  and  she  had  since  kept  the  young 
man  luxuriously  in  South  Audley  Street.  She,  too,  had 
grown  up  in  the  country,  being  brought  to  London  for  a 
few  weeks  of  opera  and  concert  once  a  year  only,  and,  her 
youth  getting  the  better  of  her  fine  brain  for  the  nonce, 
she  lived  for  society  in  the  season  and  for  shooting  and 
hunting  and  visits  to  the  continent  the  rest  of  the  year. 
The  fashionable  life  is  the  busiest  on  earth,  while  its  glamor 
lasts,  and  with  a  husband  of  the  old  familiar  Greek  god 
type  (now  exclusively  English)  as  fond  of  the  world's 
pleasures  as  herself,  and  her  baby  where  English  babies 
so  sensibly  and  generally  are,  —  in  the  country  the  year 
round,  —  it  is  no  wonder  that  she  forgot  her  studies  and  aspi 
rations  and  became  a  flaming  comet  in  London  society. 

She  was  instantly  attracted  to  Ishbel,  by  the  law  of 
opposites  she  thought,  but,  as  she  learned  in  later  years,  by 
a  deep-lying  similarity  of  character  and  mind,  at  present 
unsuspected  beneath  the  effervescence  of  their  youth. 

Both  of  these  young  women  were  almost  as  fond  of  Nigel 
Herbert  as  of  each  other,  and  although  he  forbore  to  con- 
•fide  to  them  his  ultimate  purpose  in  regard  to  Julia,  were 
properly  horrified  at  the  "box  that  red-headed  little  Nevis 
girl  had  got  herself  into,"  and  sympathetic  with  his  state 
of  mind.  Mensseldom  confide  their  infatuations  to  other 
men,  but  tftey  often  do  to  women,  or,  if  they  drop  a  hint, 
woman  corkscrews  the  whole  story  out  of  them ;  and  these 
two  astute  friends  of  his  got  Nigel's  the  day  he  asked  them 
to  call  and  "be  nice  to  Mrs.  France."  They  were  still 
too  young  to  approve  of  irregular  love  affairs,  but  with 
the  optimism  of  their  years  were  sure  it  could  be  arranged 
somehow,  and  called  at  once  in  Tilney  Street. 

Mrs.  VVinstone,  delighted  to  add  two  young  women,  so 
much  the  fashion,  to  her  set,  cultivated  them  assiduously, 
confided  to  them  the  appalling  ignorance  of  her  niece,  asked 
their  assistance,  and  even  took  them  shopping  wheh  Julia 
began  to  show  signs  of  rebellion  and  fatigue. 


THREE   POTTERS  65 

At  first  they  were  merely  amused;  then  they  found  the 
little  West  Indian  pathetic,  finally,  like  the  Captain  (alas  ! 
but  such  is  life,  dropped  forever  from  this  veracious  chron 
icle)  and  young  Herbert,  began  to  revolve  schemes  for 
"saving  her." 

Meanwhile  the  tired  but  happy  and  still  unprophetic 
Julia  was  preparing  for  the  ordeal  of  her  first  curtsy  in 
Buckingham  Palace. 


MRS.  WINSTONE  won  the  admiration  of  her  distinguished 
circle  and  the  high  approval  of  the  duke  for  the  tact  with 
which  she  managed  Julia's  destinies  at  this  period.  As  the 
bride's  husband  was  away  and  she  had  neither  entered 
society  as  a  maid  nor  in  company  with  her  legal  owner, 
her  appearance  at  balls  and  formal  dinners  would  have 
created  a  scandal.  Nevertheless,  she  must  be  educated, 
and  Mrs.  Winstone  cut  the  difference  with  her  never  fail 
ing  acumen.  Her  own  drawing-room  was  thronged  with 
"the  world"  nearly  every  afternoon;  she  gave  many  small 
dinners  to  the  smartest  dissenters  from  middle-class  morality 
that  she  knew;  it  was  the  era  of  the  problem  play,  and 
Julia  saw  them  all,  as  well  as  the  "  halls,"  with  their 
strange  company  in  the  lobbies;  Nigel  Herbert  and  one 
or  two  other  admirers  were  encouraged;  and  the  most 
modern  and  extreme  of  the  psychological  novels  and  plays 
littered  the  room  above  the  mews. 

But  Julia,  although  some  glimmerings  of  life's  realities 
were  beginning  to  penetrate  the  serene  unconsciousness  of 
childhood  (enough  to  induce  in  her  a  certain  reserve  of 
speech),  was  far  too  rushed  and  bewildered  to  comprehend 
more  than  one-hundredth  part  of  what  she  heard  and  saw 
-  the  novels  and  plays  she  was  too  tired  in  her  few  soli 
tary  moments  to  open.  Shopping,  fitting,  luncheons, 
dinners,  the  afternoon  gatherings,  the  theatre,  the  con 
stant  buzz  of  conversation  about  politics  and  scandal, 
kept  the  surface  of  her  mind  agitated  and  left  the  depths 
untouched.  Even  Nigel,  in  spite  of  his  ardent  eyes  and 
tender  notes,  she  barely  separated  from  Bridgit  and 
Ishbcl,  merely  conscious  that  she  liked  the  three  better 
than  any  one  on  earth  except  her  mother.  If  she  thought 
of  France  at  all,  it  was  to  experience  a  sensation  of  momen- 

66 


THREE   POTTERS  67 

tary  gratitude  to  the  person  that  had  given  her  this  brilliant 
experience;  although,  after  she  began  to  rehearse  daily 
for  the  presentation,  curtsying  before  a  row  of  dummies 
until  she  ached,  backing  out  with  her  train  over  her  arm, 
the  correct  smile  on  her  face,  the  correct  measure  of  respect 
and  dignity  in  her  mien,  she  was  disposed  to  wish  herself 
back  on  Nevis. 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  immense  respectability  of  the 
duke,  and  his  personal  friendship  with  his  sovereign,  the 
application  to  present  the  wife  of  Harold  France  at  the 
court  of  St.  James  might  have  received  scant  considera 
tion.  He  was  even  under  the  ban  of  the  royal  arbiter 
eligantiarum.  But  there  was  no  question  of  refusing  the 
pointed  request  of  the  duke,  whom  the  queen  regarded  as 
a  model  of  all  the  virtues  in  a  degenerate  age;  and  Mrs. 
Edis  was  also  remembered  with  favor.  The  Lady  Ara 
bella  Torrence,  a  sister  of  the  duke,  was  selected  to  present 
the  bride,  and  at  six  o'clock  on  a  raw  May  morning  Julia 
was  aroused  by  the  hair-dresser,  and,  after  an  hour's  torture, 
went  to  sleep  again  on  a  chair  with  her  feathered  head 
swathed  in  tulle. 

The  respite  was  brief.  At  nine  o'clock  two  women  from 
the  great  dressmaking  establishment  patronized  by  Mrs. 
Winstone  came  to  array  the  victim  in  a  train  that  filled  up 
the  entire  room. 

A  cup  of  strong  coffee  revived  Julia's  flagging  spirits 
and  vitality,  and  she  fancied  herself  mightily  when,  draped, 
and  sewn,  and  squeezed,  and  pinched,  she  was  free  at  last 
to  admire  her  reflection  in  the  long  mirror.  Her  gown  was 
pure  white,  of  course,  the  front  of  the  round  skirt  covered 
with  tulle  and  sown  with  seed  pearls,  the  train  of  a  stiff 
thick  brocade,  which  would  be  sent  on  the  morrow  to  be 
made  into  an  evening  wrap,  just  as  the  round  frock  was  to 
do  duty  for  her  first  party.  Such  was  the  private  economy 
of  the  presentation  costume.  The  duke  had  lent  her  the 
family  pearls,  and  they  depended  to  her  waist  and  clasped 
her  head.  Her  skin  was  as  white  as  her  gown  and  her 
hair  and  lips  were  vivid  touches  of  color.  Julia  smiled  at 


68  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

her  reflection,  then  trembled  as  she  gathered  up  the  train, 
so  much  more  alarming  than  the  " property"  stuff  she  had 
used  at  rehearsals. 

Word  had  come  that  Lady  Arabella  was  waiting,  and 
cheered  by  compliments  from  her  aunt  and  from  Bridgit 
and  Ishbel,  who  rushed  in  for  a  moment,  she  descended  to 
the  family  coach  and  sat  herself  beside  her  formidable 
relative. 

Lady  Arabella  was  a  tall  bony  big  woman,  with  the 
large  hands  and  feet  which  are  supposed  to  be  the  preroga 
tive  of  the  plebeian,  an  early  Victorian  coiffure,  and  an 
imposing  skeleton  religiously  exhibited  so  far  as  decency 
permitted  and  fashion  expected,  whenever  a  court  func 
tion  demanded  this  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  a  loyal  subject 
who  suffered  from  chronic  hay  fever.  She  had  a  deep  bass 
voice,  a  bristling  beard,  and  approved  of  nothing  modern. 
11  When  the  queen  was  young  and  gave  the  tone  to  Society" 
was  a  phrase  constantly  on  her  lips.  She  had  felt  it  in 
cumbent  upon  herself  to  give  the  distracted  Julia  a  series 
of  lectures  on  deportment,  particularly  on  her  behavior 
during  the  sacred  hour  of  presentation,  and  had  improved 
the  opportunity  to  let  fall  many  edifying  remarks  upon  the 
duties  of  a  wife,  the  shocking  manner  in  which  the  women 
of  the  present  generation  neglected  their  husbands.  Al 
though  she  disapproved  of  her  nephew  in  so  far  as  she 
understood  him,  she  subtly  conveyed  to  his  wife  that  to  be 
the  choice  of  the  future  head  of  the  house  of  France  was 
an  overpowering  honor. 

At  first  she  had  terrified  Julia,  then  bored  her,  finally, 
as  the  great  day  approached,  loomed  as  a  rock  of  strength. 
Nothing,  at  least,  could  frighten  her,  and  she  was  so  big 
and  so  conspicuously  hideous  that  it  was  conceivably  pos 
sible  to  shrink  behind  her. 

But  there  was  a  preliminary  ordeal  of  which  she  had 
heard  nothing,  a  grateful  callousing  of  the  nerves  before 
making  a  bow  to  a  mere  sovereign. 

Many  had  waited  for  the  last  drawing-room  because  it 
would  be  the  smartest,  others  because  it  was  a  bore,  to  be 


THREE   POTTERS  69 

deferred  as  long  as  possible;  many  had  been  in  Italy  or 
on  the  Riviera ;  others  had  been  put  on  the  list  by  a  power 
higher  than  their  own  wills.  From  whatever  combination 
of  causes  the  procession  of  slowly  moving  carriages  was  as 
long  as  the  tail  of  a  comet,  and  at  times,  particularly  while 
the  gorgeous  coaches  of  the  ambassadors  were  driving 
smartly  down  the  Mall,  came  to  a  dead  halt.  It  was  then 
that  the  sovereign  people  had  their  innings. 

They  lined  the  streets  surrounding  the  Palace  in  serried 
ranks.  Not  even  the  American  crowd  loves  a  "show"  as 
the  British  does,  Socialists  and  all.  Their  ancestors  have 
gaped  at  gilded  coaches  and  gorgeous  robes  and  sparkling 
jewels  for  centuries,  and  if  the  day  ever  comes  when  they 
shall  have  exchanged  these  amiable  pageants  of  their 
betters  for  a  full  stomach,  who  shall  dare  predict  that  they 
will  be  entirely  satisfied  ? 

What  awe  they  may  have  inherited  had  long  since  dis 
appeared.  They  crowded  up  against  the  procession  of  car 
riages,  devouring  with  their  curious  good-natured  eyes  the 
splendid  gowns  and  jewels,  the  glimpses  of  bare  shoulders, 
and  the  beauty  or  bones  of  women  apparently  insensible 
of  their  existence. 

For  a  time  Julia  clutched  nervously  at  the  pearls  beneath 
her  cloak,  and  shrank  from  that  sea  of  eyes  under  hats  of 
an  indescribable  commonness. 

"My  eye,  ain't  her  hair  red!"  exclaimed  one  young 
woman,  with  unmistakable  reference.  "And  a  little  paint 
wouldn't  'urt  her." 

"  Paint  ?     That  there's  high-toned  pallor  - 

"Pearl  powder - 

"Oh,  I  sy,  wot  for  do  they  let  bibies  like  that  marry 
when  they  don't  have  to  ?  I  call  it  a  shime." 

"Right  you  are!" 

One  girl,  with  a  violent  color  and  black  frizzled  hair  that 
stood  out  quite  eight  inches  from  three  parts  of  her  face, 
thrust  her  head  through  the  open  window  of  the  coach. 

"Don't  you  mind  wot  they  sy,"  she  said  consolingly. 
"They're  that  nonsensical  they  can't  'clp  chaffing.  And 


yo  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

you're  the  prettiest  and  the  most  haristocratic  of  the  whole 
lot  —  I've  been  all  up  and  down  the  line.  And  it  ain't 
powder!  My  word,  but  you're  complexion's  grand!" 

She  withdrew  without  waiting  for  an  answer.  Julia  turned 
to  Lady  Arabella,  who,  throughout  the  ordeal,  had  sat  as 
upright  as  if  corseted  in  iron,  and  with  her  long  haughty 
profile  turned  unflinchingly  to  the  mob.  So,  it  must  be 
conceded,  stupid  as  she  was  in  her  pride,  would  she  have  sat 
if  they  had  threatened  her  life.  As  Julia  asked  her  timidly 
(in  effect)  if  the  most  aristocratic  function  of  the  year  was 
always  treated  like  a  travelling  circus,  Lady  Arabella  an 
swered,  without  flickering  an  eyelash:  l{ Always,  and  for 
tunately  for  us.  The  lower  classes  love  to  see  us  on  parade, 
and  the  more  we  give  them  of  this  sort  of  thing,  the  longer  we 
shall  keep  their  loyalty.  Moreover,  it  serves  the  purpose  — 
this  drawing-room  procession,  in  particular  —  of  bringing 
us  in  close  touch  with  the  people,  serves  to  demonstrate 
that  we  are  real  mortals,  not  the  ridiculous  creatures  in 
the  sort  of  novels  they  read.  I  always  endeavor  to  look  a 
symbol.  I  hope  you  will  learn  to  do  the  same  in  time,  for 
the  lower  classes  are  secretly  proucl  of  us  and  like  us  to 
play  our  part.  You  are  drooping.  Sit  up  and  present 
your  profile." 

" What's  the  use  of  a  profile  without  a  backbone?"  said 
Julia,  wearily.  "I'm  so  tired." 

"You  must  rise  above  mere  physical  fatigue,"  said  the 
old  dame,  severely.  "  People  in  our  class  keep  our  backbones 
for  our  bedrooms.  When  you  are  inclined  to  complain, 
think  of  the  poor  royalties,  who  stand  for  hours.  And  don't 
finger  your  pearls.  You  are  supposed  to  have  been  born 
with  them  about  your  neck." 

Julia's  sense  of  humor  was  not  yet  fully  awake,  but 
her  new  relative's  words  were  tonic  as  well  as  reassuring;  she 
sat  erect,  but  turned  her  eyes  round  her  profile  to  regard 
this  strange  lower  class  of  London,  of  which  she  had  heard 
much  but  seen  nothing  until  to-day.  They  were  an  ugly 
lot ;  beauty  would  seem  to  be  the  prerogative  of  aristoc 
racy  in  England,  possibly  because  it  is  well  fed ;  they  wore 


THREE   POTTERS  71 

rough  ready-made  frocks,  or,  where  finery  was  attempted, 
feathers  and  ribbons  inferior  to  anything  Julia  had  ever  seen 
on  the  negroes  of  Nevis ;  and  many  of  the  hats  looked  as  if 
they  might  be  used  as  nightcaps  to  protect  the  elaborate 
masses  of  frizzled  hair.  Julia,  brought  up  on  the  soundest 
aristocratic  principles,  saw  in  this  gaping  good-natured 
crowd  but  a  broad  and  solid  foundation  for  the  historic 
institution  above. 

The  coach  finally  rolled  through  the  gates  of  Buckingham 
Palace.  For  an  hour  longer  she  stood,  her  slippers  pinching 
until  her  native  -independence  of  character  almost  induced 
her  to  kick  them  off.  But  she  was  so  tired  after  a  month 
of  London,  an  almost  sleepless  night,  and  the  excitements  of 
an  already  long  day,  that  her  brain  worked  toward  no  such 
simple  solution,  and  before  her  moment  came  she  ached 
from  head  to  foot.  The  scene  became  a  blur  of  vast  rooms, 
of  tall  women,  very  thin  or  very  fat,  with  diamond  tiaras 
above  set  faces,  and  trains  of  every  color  over  their  arms,  of 
girls  that  shifted  from  one  foot  to  the  other  and  breathed 
audibly  their  wish  that  it  were  over.  One  by  one  they  dis 
appeared.  There  was  a  sharp  emphatic  whisper  from  Lady 
Arabella.  Julia  started  and  set  her  teeth.  "  Mind  you  don't 
sit  down  like  that  daughter  of  the  American  ambassador," 
whispered  the  same  fierce  nervous  voice.  "Remember  all 
that  you  have  rehearsed." 

Julia,  terrified  to  her  marrow,  did  as  opera  singers  do  in 
moments  of  distress;  she  "fell  back  on  technique."  After 
ward  she  remembered  vaguely  making  a  succession  of 
curtsies  to  a  long  row  of  dazzling  crowns,  but  no  effort  of 
memory  ever  recalled  the  features  beneath.  She  received 
the  train  flung  over  her  arm  and  backed  out  without  dis 
gracing  herself,  but  also  without  a  thrill  of  that  joy  which 
a  loyal  subject  is  supjx>sed  to  feel  when  in  the  presence  of 
his  sovereign  for  the  first  time. 

"Not  bad,"  said  Lady  Arabella,  graciously,  as  after  many 
more  moments,  they  entered  their  carriage.  But  Julia 
was  yawning.  When  she  reached  the  house  in  Tilney  Street, 
she  went  to  bed  and  refused  to  get  up  for  twenty-four  hours. 


VI 

ON  the  day  following  the  drawing-room  a  prearranged 
conference  was  held  in  the  ''palatial  home"  of  Mr.  Jones  in 
Park  Lane.  It  was  the  hideous  and  abandoned  house  of  a 
South  African  millionnaire,  this  home,  but  Lady  Ishbel  had 
refurnished  it  by  degrees,  and  her  boudoir  in  particular, 
with  its  pale  French  silks  and  many  flowers,  its  Empire 
furniture,  both  delicately  wrought  and  solid,  framed  ap 
propriately  a  soft  aristocratic  loveliness  that  almost  con 
cealed  strong  bones  and  firm  lines.  As  she  is  to  play  so 
intimate  a  part  in  the  development  of  our  heroine,  she  may 
as  well  be  described  here  as  later.  She  had  quantities  of 
curly  silky  chestnut  hair,  long  brown  eyes  with  fine  fringes 
and  an  expression  both  modest  and  piquant,  a  straight  little 
nose  with  arching  nostril,  a  gracefully  cut  mouth  with 
pink  lips,  and  a  square  little  chin  with  a  dimple  in  it.  Her 
figure  was  womanly,  not  too  thin,  and  her  capable  hands  were 
seldom  idle.  Just  now  she  was  retrimming  a  hat  that  had 
arrived  the  day  before  from  the  milliner  of  the  moment 
in  Paris.  It  may  be  added  that  her  smile  was  the  sweetest 
in  London;  and  her  voice  was  always  rich  and  deep,  with  a 
natural  vibration  quite  at  the  command  of  her  will.  Charm 
radiated  from  her,  and  she  was  an  outrageous  flirt.  In  fact 
she  looked  With  suspicion  upon  women  that  did  not  flirt,  esti 
mating  them  below  the  normal  and  not  to  be  trusted  in 
anything.  Men  adored  her,  even  when  she  laughed  at 
them,  which  she  often  did  in  the  most  distracting  manner 
imaginable. 

Mrs.  Herbert  was  standing  in  her  favorite  attitude 
behind  a  low  fire-screen,  her  black  eyes  flashing,  her  nostrils 
dilating,  while  her  young  brother-in-law  paced  excitedly 
up  and  down  the  room.  He  was  thinner  than  when  he  had 
fallen  in  love  a  month  since,  almost  pallid,  and  his  eyes  had 

72 


THREE   POTTERS  73 

a  strained  look.  There  was  no  possible  doubt  as  to  what 
was  the  matter  with  him. 

"Don't  be  an  ass,"  said  Mrs.  Herbert.  "You  are  acting 
like  the  hero  of  a  melodrama  — •" 

"I  tell  you  something  must  be  done  !"  cried  the  young 
man.  "The  squadron  has  been  sighted  oil  the  Azores  - 

"Well,  what  are  you  going  to  do  about  it?  She's  not 
in  love  with  you  —  doesn't  care  a  rap  - 

"What  chance  have  I  had  to  make  her ?  I  never  see  her 
alone,  never  get  a  chance  to  talk  to  her  for  half  an  hour  at  a 
time.  You  promised  to  help  me  - 

"Mrs.  Winstone  has  never  let  the  poor  thing  go  for  a 
minute.  She's  overdone  the  business.  Julia's  had  no  time 
to  think,  goes  to  sleep  at  problem  plays,  and  knows  no  more 
than  when  she  arrived  - 

"If  I  only  had  the  chance  to  teach  her !"  cried  Herbert, 
with  flushing  eyes. 

"Look  at  here,"  said  his  sister-in-law,  grasping  a  point 
of  the  screen  with  either  hand;  "let  us  have  this  out. 
If  your  brains  are  not  addled,  they  must  have  conceived 
some  sort  of  a  plan.  What  is  it  ?  A  liaison  ?  An  elope 
ment?  I  approve  of  neither.  I'd  like  to  save  the  poor  child 
from  that  man,  but  the  frying  pan's  as  good  as  the  fire- 

"No  liaison  !  I'd  elope  with  her  to-morrow  if  she'd  go 
with  me  - 

"And  disgrace  a  great  family  !"  said  Ishbcl,  softly. 

"Oh,  hang  the  family,"  cried  Mrs.  Herbert,  whose 
mother's  blood  was  already  working  in  her.  "  The  duke's  an 
old  pudding.  Lady  Arabella  and  her  sisters  are  cracked 
old  sign-posts ;  and  a  scandal  would  serve  Mrs.  Winstone 
right  for  not  packing  the  child  back  on  the  next  steamer  to 
her  sister  with  the  whole  unvarnished  truth  in  a  letter. 
Not  she,  however;  she  wants  to  be  aunt  to  a  duchess. 
What  I'm  thinking  of  is  Julia.  The  conceit  of  man !  What 
do  you  suppose  you  could  give  her  in  exchange  for  dis 
grace - 

"Love!"  cried  Nigel.  "I  tell  you  it  can  make  up  for 
anything  when  it  is  strong  enough." 


74  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

"Yes,  when  it  is,"  said  Mrs.  Herbert,  who,  recovering 
from  her  own  infatuation  for  a  brainless  beauty,  was  not  in 
a  romantic  frame  of  mind.  "But  she  doesn't  love  you,  in 
the  first  place,  and  in  the  second,  no  woman  can  live  her 
life  on  love,  any  more  than  a  man  can.  She  wants  children, 
position  .of  some  sort,  the  society  of  other  women  —  that 
last  is  one  of  woman's  biggest  wants,  and  no  man  ever 
realizes  it." 

"But  love  must  be  a  wonderful  thing,"  said  Ishbel,  who 
had  never  experienced  it.  "It  would  almost  be  worth  any 
sacrifice,  especially  if  one  had  had  things  first,  only  men 
are  always  so  funny  in  one  way  or  another ;  one  becomes 
disenchanted  just  in  the  nick  of  time." 

"No  man  lives  who  can  make  up  to  a  woman  for  the  loss 
of  everything  else,"  said  Mrs.  Herbert,  decidedly.  " I  mean 
a  woman  with  brains,  and  Julia  has  them.  She  doesn't  know 
it  because  she  doesn't  know  anything ;  but  one  day  - 

"Oh,  if  I  could  be  the  one  to  train  that  mind  —  why 
not?  Why  not?" 

"  Let's  come  down  to  business.  I  refuse  to  help  you  either 
to  elope  6r  to  make  love  to  her.  I  fancy  you'll  have  to  wait 
until  France  drinks  himself  to  death,  or  this  country  passes 
rational  divorce  laws.  Forget  yourself  and  think  of  her." 

"Very  well.  Save  her  first.  That  is  the  main  thing. 
I'll  never  give  her  up,  but  I'm  willing  to  forget  myself  for  a 
bit,  if  I  can  - 

"Well,  make  one  practical  suggestion." 

Ishbel  put  the  hat  aside  and  clasped  her  hands.  "  I  have 
long  since  made  up  my  mind  to  offer  her  shelter  when  she 
needs  it,"  she  announced.  "Mrs.  Winstone  won't,  and 
Julia  is  sure  to  leave  him." 

"She  must  never  go  to  him!"  Herbert  stormed  up 
and  down  the  room  again. 

"Perhaps  he's  not  as  bad  as  he's  painted,"  said  Ishbel, 
who  was  always  charitable. 

"Oh,  you  don't  know  !     You  don't  know  !" 

"I  do,"  said  the  uncompromising  Mrs.  Herbert.  "He's  a 
bad  lot  without  the  usual  redeeming  weakness  of  that  easy 


THREE   POTTERS  75 

form  of  good  nature  known  as  a  kind  heart ;  a  sensualist 
without  an  atom  of  real  warmth ;  a  card  sharp  too  clever 
to  be  caught ;  a  periodical  drinker;  a  vile  gross  creature 
whom  only  the  lowest  women  have  tolerated  for  years,  but 
so  blase  he  is  tired  of  them  - 

44  We  must  tell  her  things!"  cried  Ishbel.  "We  must 
make  her  understand  !" 

"You  couldn't  make  that  baby  understand  anything. 
Besides,  when  it  came  to  the  point,  you  couldn't  do  it.  It's 
all  very  well  to  talk  of  enlightening  girls  about  anything, 
but  personally  I've  never  encountered  any  one  that  had 
the  nerve  to  do  it.  Girls  in  our  class  absorb  knowledge  as 
they  grow  up ;  instincts  help ;  but  who  ever  told  us  any 
thing?  Well,  here  is  my  plan,  since  you  two  appear  to 
have  none.  We  shall  tell  her  that  France  is  dangerous,  that 
when  he  drinks  he  is  quite  mad  and  may  kill  her.  She's 
game,  but  there  are  certain  female  fears  that  always  can 
be  worked  on.  And  repugnances.  We  will  draw  horrid 
pictures  of  what  he  looks  like  when  he's  drunk  - 

"Right  you  are!"  cried  Herbert.  "No  decent  girl  will 
elect  to  live  with  a  common  drunkard,  particularly  when 
she  doesn't  love  him.  And  if  Mrs.  Winstone  can't  be 
brought  round,  one  of  you  will  take  her  in  ?" 

"If  she'll  come.  Perhaps  she  would  wish  to  go  back  to 
her  mother.  She  hasn't  a  penny  of  her  own,  and  apparently 
has  never  heard  of  the  self-supporting  woman.  But  it  might 
be  managed  somehow." 

" It  must ! "  cried  Ishbel.     "We  will  hide  her  alternately.'* 

"But  to  what  end?  France  might  be  exasperated  to  the 
point  of  wishing  to  rid  himself  of  her,  but  what  ground 
for  divorce  ?  We  travel  in  a  circle  as  far  as  Nigel  is  con 
cerned." 

"I  have  it!"  cried  Nigel,  whose  fine  imagination  was 
fired  by  the  most  stimulative  of  all  passions.  "Give  me 
the  chance  to  make  her  love  me,  and  then  take  her  to  America 
and  get  a  divorce  there.  Thank  heaven  I  have  a  little 
something  of  my  own,  and  I  can  earn  more.  We'll  stay 
in  America  until  the  storm  blows  over  —  " 


76  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"  American  divorces  are  not  legal  in  England  - 
"  Then  I'll  stay  there  forever.     Promise.      Promise." 
"  Not  bad,"  said  Mrs.  Herbert.     u  You  take  her  in,  Ishbel, 
and  I'll  take  her  over.     Mr.  Jones  would  probably  not  con 
sent  to  your  desertion  —  a  divorce  must  take  time,  even 
in  the  United  States,  and  you  have  another  sister  to  marry  oil 


next  season  - 


"Of  course  I'll  take  her  in,  and  we'll  begin  to-morrow  to 
frighten  her." 

Nigel  kissed  them  both. 

But  Fortune  is  often  with  the  wicked.  On  the  follow 
ing  morning  wires  flashed  the  news  that  Harold  France, 
first  lieutenant  of  her  Majesty's  cruiser  Drake,  now  on  its 
way  home  from  South  America,  was  down  with  typhoid 
fever.  Nobody  save  the  duke  expected  a  man  of  France's 
habits  to  recover  from  any  microbous  assault,  but  that  in 
nocent  and  loyal  relative  gave  immediate  orders  to  convert 
several  rooms  of  his  town  house  into  a  hospital,  engaged  a 
staff  of  doctors  and  nurses,  and  peremptorily  ordered  Julia 
to  move  over  and  be  ready  to  take  her  place  at  her  hus 
band's  bedside. 


VII 

THE  four  months  that  followed  were  by  no  means  the 
unhappiest  of  Julia's  life,  much  as  she  resented  being  torn 
from  her  friends  and  the  bewildering  delights  of  London. 
The  duke,  a  noble  if  inconspicuous  pillar  of  the  good  old 
school,  stood  out  for  wifely  duty  in  appearance  if  not  in 
fact :  the  nurses  barely  permitted  Julia  to  cross  the  thresh 
old  of  the  sick-chamber.  But  although  she  was  of  no 
possible  use,  and  time  hung  heavy  on  her  hands,  none  of 
her  friends  was  permitted  to  call  on  her,  and  the  duke  him 
self  took  her  for  a  constitutional  at  eight  in  the  morning 
and  nine  in  the  evening.  Julia's  complete  indifference  to 
her  husband  had  caused  him  grave  uneasiness,  even  before 
the  stricken  bridegroom's  return,  and  he  embraced  this 
opportunity  to  keep  the  child  under  his  personal  surveil 
lance  and  do  what  he  could  to  give  a  serious  turn  to  a  "fe 
male  brain  of  eighteen." 

Julia,  prompted  by  Ishbel,  asked  to  have  a  telephone 
put  in  her  room,  but  the  request  was  courteously  refused, 
and  the  two  loyal  friends  were  forced  to  content  themselves 
with  frequent  notes.  After  Goodwood,  Bridgit  went  to 
Yorkshire  and  Ishbel  to  Homburg,  but  Nigel  remained  in 
town,  although  all  three  were  cheerfully  persuaded  that 
France  would  die  and  life  be  happy  ever  after.  Nigel  re 
gained  his  fresh  good  looks  and  spirits,  endured  the  hot 
deserted  city  without  a  murmur,  and  although  he  naturally 
refrained  from  writing  to  the  coveted  wife  of  a  dying  man, 
felt  a  certain  exaltation  in  watching  over  her  from  afar. 
It  was  during  this  period  that  he  conceived  the  idea  of  writ 
ing  a  novel  of  the  slums  (the  unknown  appealing  to  his 
adventurous  imagination),  and  took  long  rambles  in  un 
savory  precints  that  were  productive  of  more  results  than 
one. 

77 


78  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

Meanwhile  Julia,  brought  up  in  submission  to  a  far 
stronger  will  than  the  duke's,  had  ceased  to  rebel,  and  taken 
to  heart  the  parting  admonition  of  her  aunt  (that  lady  had 
gone  with  Mrs.  Macmanus  to  Marienbad  to  renew  her 
complexion)  to  learn  all  the  duke  was  willing  to  teach  her, 
and  to  read  the  novels  that  celebrated  London  society, 
past  and  present.  Mrs.  Winstone,  too,  believed  that  France 
must  die,  but,  perceiving  that  her  niece  had  a  charm  of 
her  own  in  addition  to  the  magnetism  of  youth,  had  another 
match  in  mind  for  her. 

So  Julia  drank  in  the  long  discourses  upon  the  abomin 
able  Gladstone  and  all  his  policies,  the  iniquity  of  the  Har- 
court  Budget,  obediently  rejoiced  at  the  failure  of  the  second 
Home  Rule  Bill,  became  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
other  notable  figures  in  British  politics :  Lord  Salisbury 
(the  duke's  idol),  Lord  Rosebery  (the  present  Prime  Minis 
ter),  fated,  in  the  duke's  not  always  erring  judgment,  to 
follow  close  upon  the  heels  of  Gladstone  into  political  se 
clusion,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  Mr.  Campbell-Bannerman, 
Sir  William  Vernon  Harcourt,  Mr.  Balfour,  Sir  Michael 
Hicks-Beach,  George  Curzon,  Lord  Lansdowne,  Mr. 
Goschen  (the  speaker),  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  (Harting- 
ton),  Mr.  Morley,  and  Mr.  Bryce.  The  treaty  with  Japan 
was  a  fruitful  subject  of  discourse ;  and  when  the  war  broke 
out  between  that  new  military  power  and  China,  Julia, 
who  was  growing  nervous,  gratified  the  duke  by  sharing 
his  excitement.  In  her  lonely  hours  she  read  promiscuously 
and  thought  a  good  deal. 

She  rarely  flung  a  thought  to  poor  Nigel,  for  when  the 
big  helpless  form  of  her  husband  had  been  taken  from  the 
ambulance  and  carried  past  her  up  the  broad  stairs,  the 
natural  tenderness  and  pity  in  her  nature  had  stirred,  and 
something  of  what  she  felt  for  little  Fanny  had  gone  out 
to  him.  She  woulcl  have  nursed  him,  had  she  been  per 
mitted  ;  she  inquired  for  him  many  times  a  day,  and  sin 
cerely  hoped  that  he  would  recover.  She  had  not  the  faint 
est  notion  of  loving  him,  but  she  would  be  a  good  wife, 
and,  no  doubt,  be  happy.  Lshbel  did  not  love  her  husband 


THREE   POTTERS  79 

and  was  happy,  and  so,  apparently,  were  a  good  many  more 
that  flitted  through  her  aunt's  drawing-room  with  a  tem 
porary  admirer  in  tow.  Julia's  future  plans  included  no 
infants-in-waiting ;  she  should  become  one  of  those  great 
political  women  the  planets,  according  to  her  mother's 
letters,  had  ordered  her  to  be;  how  could  she  doubt  this 
destiny  when  every  circumstance  was  conspiring  to  fulfil 
it  ?  So,  between  the  sense  of  an  inexorable  fate,  the  serious 
atmosphere  of  her  new  surroundings,  and  the  desperate 
struggle  of  her  husband  for  his  life,  her  mind  flowered 
rapidly;  and  the  duke  was  delighted  with  her.  He  disliked 
and  distrusted  women  that  stood  alone,  that  won  personal 
fame  for  themselves,  even  " beauties"  whose  notoriety 
threw  their  lords  into  the  background ;  but  he  had  a  very 
keen  appreciation  of  their  usefulness  to  man,  not  only  as 
dams,  but  as  tactful  distributors  of  political  smiles.  Of 
course  there  must  be  a  certain  amount  of  brain  behind  the 
smiles,  that  they  occur  at  precisely  the  right  moment ;  but 
any  man,  given  fair  material  to  work  on,  could  do  well  with 
it  and  prevent  mistakes.  He  knew  that  certain  women  in 
history  had  been  the  centre  of  famous  political  salons,  but 
took  for  granted  that  they  had  been  severely  coached  by 
men.  As  for  the  women  that  were  famous  in  the  arts  of 
fiction  and  painting,  he  did  not  know  how  to  account  for 
them,  therefore  refused  to  think  about  them  at  all.  Julia 
he  regarded  as  a  promising  specimen.  She  was  healthy, 
and  would  no  doubt  replenish  the  almost  exhausted  house 
of  France;  she  was  pretty  and  charming,  therefore  would 
keep  her  husband  out  of  mischief;  and,  taking  to  politics 
as  a  duck  takes  to  water,  would  be  sure  to  smile,  subtly, 
radiantly,  or  meditatively,  as  well  as  to  listen  intelligently, 
when  the  distinguished  members  of  his  party  that  he  pur 
posed  to  entertain  once  more  were  obliged  to  talk  to  her. 

On  the  twenty-first  day  of  France's  illness  his  temperature 
went  down,  he  slept  naturally,  and  upon  awaking  asked  to 
see  his  wife.  Julia  was  admitted,  and  stood  for  a  few  mo 
ments  by  the  bed,  stammering  congratulations  and  staring 
at  the  shrunken  face  with  its  ragged  beard ;  then  went  to 


So  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

her  own  room  and  wept  stormily  over  the  wreck  of  what  at 
least  had  been  the  perfection  of  manly  strength.  France's 
temperature  remained  normal  for  a  fortnight,  then  suddenly 
shot  up  again,  and  twice,  during  the  ensuing  twenty  days, 
he  almost  expired.  Two  doctors  slept  in  the  house  when 
the  relapse  was  at  its  worst,  and  the  political  talks  were  in 
terrupted,  although  the  duke  never  for  a  moment  believed 
that  the  last  of  his  race  would  die. 

By  this  time  the  press  was  interested,  for  at  all  events 
France  was  heir-presumptive  to  a  great  estate  and  title, 
and  daily  bulletins  were  published.  Nigel  began  his  novel 
in  order  to  divert  his  mind  from  indecent  jubilation;  but 
when  France's  temperature  dropped  again  and  he  improved 
from  day  to  day  with  uncompromising  persistence,  his  rival 
took  the  express  to  Yorkshire  to  confer  with  Bridgit.  She 
could  give  him  no  encouragement.  Julia  in  her  letters 
had  betrayed  something  of  her  state  of  grace,  and  during 
the  relapse  had  written  once  in  a  strain  that  manifested  the 
deepest  anxiety. 

" He'll  get  her  through  her  sympathy,  pity;  no  matter 
what  she  may  be  in  the  future,  she's  all  female  at  present," 
remarked  Mrs.  Herbert,  after  showing  these  letters  to 
Nigel.  "All  women  have  to  go  through  the  female  stage, 
one  way  or  another;  and  now  will  come  a  long  convales 
cence  during  which  she  will  be  sorrier  for  him  than  ever  - 
big  man  helpless,  and  all  the  rest  of  it.  What  is  worse,  she 
will  become  accustomed  to  him.  Better  give  her  up,  my 
boy,  or  wait  until  she  runs  away  from  him.  She's  sure  to, 
sooner  or  later,  —  unless  he  reforms.  After  all,  why 
shouldn't  he  ?  A  serious  illness  often  works  wonders;  gives 
one  so  much  time  to  think.  And  physical  weakness  al 
ways  induces  such  virtuous  resolutions.  France  may  look 
back  upon  his  past  life  with  horror.  Then,  where  will  you 
be?  Julia's  a  well-born  well-brought-up  girl  of  high 
ideals.  If  France  treats  her  decently  she'll  stick  to  him, 
as  many  another  woman  is  sticking  to  a  husband  that  is  all 
that  she  doesn't  want  him  to  be  - 

"The  more  shame  to  them  !"  cried  Nigel,  hotly. 


THREE    POTTERS  i 

<4  Well,  there  are  worse  things  than  conventions  and  stand 
ards.  Now  run  off  and  write  your  novel.  I  am  told  that 
a  harrowed  mind  often  produces  the  most  moving  fiction." 

" I'll  wait,  but  not  too  long,"  said  Nigel,  doggedly.  "  Bos- 
quith  is  being  got  ready  for  them,  and  is  only  twelve  miles 
from  here.  You  must  ask  me  down,  and  I'll  manage  to 
see  her  as  soon  as  it's  decent.  Of  course  I  can't  cut  under 
a  man  while  he's  being  trundled  round  in  a  bath  chair." 


VIII 

FRANCE'S  convalescence  was  very  slow.  His  superb 
physique  had  fought  death  victoriously,  as,  so  far,  it  had 
saved  him  from  the  consequences  of  dissipation,  but  only 
youth  could  have  given  him  a  swift  recovery.  It  was 
September  before  he  was  able  to  move  to  Bosquith.  After 
the  stifling  London  summer,  Julia  needed  a  change  as  much 
as  he' did.  The  duke,  as  soon  as  his  heir  was  able  to  sit  up, 
had  taken  a  run  over  to  Kissengen,  but  Julia  had  spent  the 
greater  part  of  every  day  in  the  sick-room,  reading  the 
sporting  papers  and  light  novels  to  her  husband,  or  amusing 
him  as  best  she  could.  France  would  barely  let  her  out  of 
his  sight.  His  shrewd  cunning  brain  recovered  its  strength 
while  his  body  was  still  helpless,  and  he  conceived  that  now 
was  his  opportunity  to  make  this  inexperienced  child  be 
lieve  in  a  romantic  devotion,  and  to  win  her  love  in  return. 
He  permitted  her  to  take  a  daily  walk  or  drive  with  one  of 
the  nurses,  making  much  of  his  sacrifice,  and  was  so  touch- 
ingly  happy  to  see  her  after  these  brief  separations  that 
Julia  almost  wept,  and  gave  him  her  hand  to  hold,  while 
she  made  the  most  of  every  trifle  her  observing  eyes  had 
taken  note  of  during  her  respite. 

He  no  longer  repelled  her ;  not  only  did  his  helplessness 
appeal  to  her  deep  womanly  instincts,  but  she  was  be 
come  so  accustomed  to  his  touch  that  she  was  quite  in 
different  to  it :  she  bathed  his  head  with  cologne  several 
times  a  day,  kissed  him  obediently  when  she  came  and 
went,  and  even  gave  him  her  shoulder  as  a  pillow  when  he 
fretfully  declared  that  his  head  could  rest  on  nothing  else. 
It  was  a  young  and  excessively  thin  shoulder,  and,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  France  would  have  preferred  feathers,  but 
the  profoundly  calculating  mind,  even  when  the  body  is 
weak,  disdains  trifles. 

82 


THREE   POTTERS  83 

As  soon  as  he  was  pronounced  well  enough  to  travel, 
the  wary  duke  returned  and  accompanied  his  charges  to 
Bosquith.  This  great  estate,  some  fifteen  thousand  acres, 
which  included  moors  and  grouse,  as  well  as  many  farms 
with  turnip  fields,  was  the  duke's  favorite  property,  not 
only  because  of  the  shootings,  but  because  the  air  of  the 
North  Sea  was  the  best  tonic  he  knew.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  he  had  chosen  Bosquith  for  the  last  stage  of  his 
nephew's  convalescence,  rather  than  one  of  his  country 
houses  nearer  to  London.  But  he  had  hesitated,  never 
theless.  Bosquith  adjoined  the  Yorkshire  estate  of  Bridgit 
Herbert's  paternal  grandfather,  and  he  knew  of  his  new 
relative's  affection  for  a  young  woman  of  whom  he  had 
never  approved  since  he  had  seen  her  riding  astride  over 
the  moors  with  her  brothers,  pretending  to  be  an  American 
Indian.  He  had  seen  her  occasionally  since  her  marriage, 
and,  no  mean  student  of  physiognomy,  had  labelled  her 
dangerous,  one  of  those  women  that  set  their  nonsensical 
opinions  above  man's  and  call  themselves  advanced.  He 
had  no  intention  that  the  intimacy  should  continue,  nor 
that  Julia  should  see  aught  of  Nigel  Herbert,  whose  devo 
tion  she  had  artlessly  revealed.  As  for  Ishbel,  who  visited 
Bridgit  every  year,  he  would  not  have  her  in  the  house,  as 
he  could  not  admit  her  and  shut  the  door  in  her  husband's 
face.  Somebody  must  take  a  stand,  and  the  duke,  although 
he  might  not  be  able  to  impose  himself  on  his  generation, 
was  not  only  intensely  loyal  to  his  class  but  alive  to  its 
dangers.  No  snob,  Julia's  lack  of  title  and  fortune  did  not 
annoy  him  in  the  least.  "No  one  can  be  more  than  gen 
tleman  or  lady,"  he  was  wont  to  say  magnanimously,  "and 
I  have  known  more  than  one  titled  bounder  of  historic  de 
scent.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  James  William  Joneses, 
well,  thank  heaven  !  at  least  they  don't  belong  to  us,  and 
we  are  not  bound  to  countenance  them  for  the  sake  of  their 
fathers;  we  cannot  drag  them  up,  and  they  will  end  by 
pulling  us  down ;  in  other  words  they  will  vulgarize  the 
British  aristocracy  until  the  masses  lose  their  pride  in  us; 
and  then  where  will  we  be?  Democracy,  Socialism, 


84  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

threaten  us  as  it  is.  Our  middle  and  lower  classes  at  home, 
and  our  too  independent  colonies  afar,  must  be  made  to 
retain  their  loyalty,  at  all  costs." 

Julia  thought  these  sentiments  sound,  but  made  up  her 
mind  privately  that  she  would  never  drop  Ishbel  or  Bridgit, 
although  she  had  been  given  to  understand  that  the  duke 
deeply  regretted  the  proximity  of  Bosquith  to  the  happy 
hunting  grounds  of  Mrs.  Herbert,  and  would  not  permit 
her  to  visit  them.  Her  rapidly  awakening  intellect  was 
seeking  for  partnership  in  her  still  fluid  character,  and  al 
though  books  could  not  develop  the  last,  inheritances  from 
a  line  of  men,  and  at  least  one  woman,  who  had  always 
thought  and  acted  for  themselves,  however  mistakenly, 
were  stirring.  She  had  been  too  managed  and  surrounded 
to  find  herself  as  yet,  but  she  had  begun  to  suspect  that  the 
ego  has  a  life  of  its  own  and  certain  inalienable  rights. 

The  journey  north  sent  France  to  bed  again  for  three 
days,  and  for  a  fortnight  he  was  wheeled  about  the  park ; 
then  he  began  to  hobble  feebly,  first  on  the  arm  of  his  nurse 
or  wife,  then  with  the  aid  of  a  stick.  Julia  accepted  him 
as  one  of  the  facts  of  existence,  regarded  him  proprietorally, 
took  an  immense  interest  in  his  progress  toward  recovery, 
and  forgot  him  when  she  could  in  the  library  or  in  long 
walks  over  the  moors.  The  castle  was  romantically  sit 
uated  on  a  cliff  overhanging  the  North  Sea,  and  in  appear 
ance,  as  in  surroundings,  was  all  that  Julia  could  ask.  It 
was  very  brown,  two-thirds  of  it  was  in  ruins,  and  the  other 
third  included  a  feudal  hall,  two  towers,  and  walls  four  feet 
thick.  The  windows,  however,  had  been  enlarged,  hot- 
water  pipes  had  been  put  in,  and  no  modern  house  was  more 
sanitary.  The  duke,  despite  a  pardonable  pride  in  his 
ancestry,  and  an  unmitigated  conservatism  in  politics,  was 
strictly  up  to  date  where  his  health  and  comfort  were  con 
cerned.  Born  an  invalid,  he  had  lived  longer  than  many  of 
his  burly  ancestors,  owing  to  a  thin  temperament  and  an 
early  and  avid  interest  in  hygiene. 

He  had  a  second  reason  for  bringing  Harold  to  Bosquith. 
The  neighboring  borough  was  much  under  his  influence, 


THREE   POTTERS  85 

and  he  proposed  that  his  relative  should  stand  for  it  at  the 
next  general  election.  At  the  last  it  had  succumbed  to  the 
personal  manipulation  of  Gladstone,  who  had  taken  a 
lively  pleasure  in  routing  the  duke ;  but  it  was  conserva 
tive  by  habit,  and  not  a  measure  of  either  Gladstone's 
government  or  that  of  his  successor  had  met  with  its  ap 
proval.  It  was  in  just  the  frame  of  mind  to  be  nursed  by 
a  genial  and  tactful  duke.  France  fell  in  with  these  plans, 
and,  when  able  to  meet  the  local  leaders,  laid  aside  his  al 
most  unbearable  haughtiness  of  manner,  and  assumed  a 
bluff  sailorlike  heartiness  which  impressed  them  deeply. 

Julia  quickly  revived  in  the  bracing  air  of  sea  and  moor, 
and  as  France  rose  late  and  retired  early,  besides  sleeping  a 
good  deal  during  the  day,  and  as  she  had  acquired  a  certain 
skill  in  dodging  the  duke,  —  who,  moreover,  took  his  local 
duties  very  seriously,  —  she  felt  happy  and  free  once  more. 
The  library  was  well  furnished,  the  moors  were  purple,  her 
bedroom  was  in  an  ancient  tower,  and  the  sea  boomed  under 
her  window.  She  wrote  long  letters  to  her  grimly  trium 
phant  mother,  and,  now  and  again,  to  Bridgit  and  Ishbel. 
The  former,  accompanied  by  her  husband  and  Nigel,  rode 
over  to  see  her,  but  she  was  obliged  to  receive  them  in  the 
chilling  presence  of  her  husband  and  trie  duke,  and  when 
the  brief  visit  came  to  an  end,  was  put  on  her  honor  not  to 
leave  the  estate. 

"As  soon  as  Harold  is  quite  recovered,"  said  the  duke, 
"  we  will  both  drive  over  with  you,  for  I  am  far  from  coun 
selling  you  to  be  rude  to  any  one.  Only,  while  your  hus 
band  is  ill,  it  would  be  highly  indecorous  for  you  to  be  as 
sociating  with  young  people;  and  for  the  matter  of  that, 
the  more  mature  minds  with  which  you  associate  during 
the  next  few  years,  the  better  —  for  us  all,  my  dear,  for  us 
all." 

But  Julia,  at  this  period,  was  quite  independent  of  peo 
ple.  Her  newly  awakened  intellect  was  clamoring  for 
books  and  more  books.  Politics,  the  planets,  the  "  brill 
iant  future,"  friends,  were  alike  forgotten.  Nothing  mat 
tered  but  the  lore  that  scholars  and  worldlings  had  gathered, 


86  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER    TIMES 

that  ravening  maw  in  her  mind.  Perhaps  this  early  in 
genuous  stage  of  the  mind's  development  is  its  happiest; 
it  is  uncritical,  having  no  standards  of  life  and  personal 
research  for  comparison,  it  swamps  the  real  ego,  while 
mightily  tickling  the  false,  it  obliterates  mere  life,  no  matter 
how  unsatisfactory,  and  above  all  it  is  saturated  with  the 
essence  of  novelty,  the  subtlest  spring  of  all  passion.  Julia, 
barely  educated,  found  in  histories,  biographies,  memoirs, 
travels,  even  in  works  of  science  beyond  her  full  compre 
hension,  a  wonderland  of  which  she  had  never  dreamed, 
much  as  she  had  longed  for  books  on  Nevis.  That  had 
been  merely  a  case  of  inherited  brain  cells  calling  for  furni 
ture;  embarked  upon  her  adventure,  these  cells  were 
crammed  so  rapidly  that  her  ancestors  slept  in  peace,  and 
Julia  felt  herself  an  isolated  and  completely  happy  intellect. 

Nevertheless,  she  was  young. 

One  night,  shortly  after  her  husband,  now  able  to  grace 
the  evening  board,  had  gone  to  his  room,  and  the  duke  was 
closeted  with  the  conservative  agent,  she  went  to  her  own 
room,  opened  the  window,  and  hung  out  over  the  sea.  The 
moon,  whose  malicious  alertness  Captain  Dundas  had 
deplored,  was  at  the  full  and  flooded  a  scene  as  beautiful 
in  its  way  as  the  tropics.  The  great  expanse  of  water  was 
almost  still,  and  a  broad  path  of  silver  seemed  firm  enough 
to  walk  on  straight  away  to  the  continent  of  Europe  and 
its  untasted  delights.  Just  round  the  corner  was  the  rose 
garden,  which  covered  the  filled-in  moat  on  the  south  side 
of  the  castle  and  several  hundred  yards  beyond.  The 
roses  were  not  very  good  ones,  being  somewhat  rusted  by 
the  salt-sea  spray,  but,  like  the  pleasaunce  on  another  side 
of  the  castle,  were  a  part  of  the  more  modern  traditions  of 
Bosquith;  and  the  duke,  although  entirely  indifferent  to 
Nature  when  she  ceased  to  be  useful  and  amused  herself 
with  being  merely  beautiful,  was  a  stickler  for  tradition; 
the  roses  were  never  neglected  without,  although  never 
brought  within ;  pollen  inflamed  his  mucous  membranes. 

The  blossoms  had  gone  with  the  summer,  but  Julia  was 
fancying  herself  inhaling  their  perfumes  when  she  became 


THREE   POTTERS  87 

aware  that  the  figure  of  a  man  had  detached  itself  from 
the  tangle.  She  watched  him  idly,  supposing  him  to  be 
one  of  the  grooms,  and  wondering  if  his  sweetheart  would 
follow.  But  the  man  was  alone,  and  in  a  moment  he  bent 
down,  picked  up  a  handful  of  loose  stones,  and  leaned  back 
as  if  to  fling  them  upward  from  the  narrow  ledge.  Simul 
taneously  Julia  and  Xigel  Herbert  recognized  each  other. 

"  What  —  what  —  do  you  want  ?  "  gasped  Julia,  in  a  loud 
whisper. 

"You,"  said  Xigel,  grimly.     "Come  down  here." 

"Impossible  !"  thrilling  wildly,  however. 

"If  you  don't,  I'll  break  in.  I've  prowled  round  here  for 
three  nights,  and  know  the  place  by  heart.  The  leads  - 

"For  heaven's  sake,  go  away  !" 

"Will  you  come  down?  I'm  spraining  the  back  of  my 
neck,  and  may  slip  off  this  narrow  shelf  any  minute.  Do 
you  want  to  see  my  mangled  remains  at  the  foot  of  the 
cliff?" 

"No.    No.    But- 

"Come  down.  I  must  have  a  talk  with  you  —  have  this 
thing  out  or  go  mad.  It's  little  to  ask  !" 

Julia  glanced  behind  her  at  the  circular  room  hung  with 
arras  (to  keep  out  draughts  and  conceal  the  hot-water 
pipes),  and  furnished  with  a  big  Gothic  bed  and  hard  up 
right  chairs  —  and  thrilled  again.  She  was  not  the  least 
in  love  with  Nigel,  but  she  suddenly  realized  that  she  was 
nearly  nineteen  and  romance  had  never  entered  her  life. 
After  all,  was  love  a  necessary  factor?  Might  not  the  ro 
mantic  adventure  be  something  to  remember  always,  par 
ticularly  when  assisting  a  most  unromantic  husband  achieve 
a  political  career,  and  entertaining  some  of  the  dullest  men 
in  London  ?  She  hesitated  but  an  instant,  then  leaned  out 
again. 

"I'll  try,"  she  whispered. 

"If  you  fail,  I'll  come  to-morrow  night." 

"Very  well,  go  into  the  rose  garden  —  under  the  oak." 

She  put  on  a  dark  cape  and  opened  her  door  cautiously. 
The  long  corridor  was  lighted  by  a  small  lamp :  gas  and 


88  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

electricity,  not  being  hygienic  essentials,  were  not  among 
the  Bosquith  improvements.  All  the  bedrooms  opened 
upon  this  corridor,  but  Julia  knew  that  her  husband  slept, 
his  capacity  for  instant  and  prolonged  slumber  being  one 
of  his  assets.  She  crept  past  the  duke's  door.  He  was  an 
early  bird,  but  was  in  the  library  still,  no  doubt,  and  the 
library  was  far  away.  He  would  be  sure  to  mount  by  the 
small  stair  beside  it ;  the  grand  staircase  led  to  the  unused 
drawing-rooms,  and  into  the  immense  hall,  which,  at  this 
season  with  no  guests  in  the  castle,  and  a  library  answering 
every  requirement  of  the  family,  was  economically  inex 
pedient.  When  a  hereditary  duke  has  several  entailed 
estates  to  keep  up  besides  a  town  house,  and  a  paltry  in 
come  of  forty  thousand  pounds  a  year,  he  is  put  to  shifts 
of  which  the  envious  world  knows  nothing. 

Down  the  grand  staircase,  therefore,  stole  Julia.  It 
creaked  even  under  her  small  feet;  behind  the  wainscot 
she  heard  gnawing  sounds  of  hideous  import ;  and  the  dark 
ness  below  was  unrelieved  by  a  single  silver  gleam.  But 
Julia  possessed  a  valiant  soul ;  moreover,  was  determined  to 
have  her  adventure.  She  felt  her  way  past  the  massive 
pieces  of  furniture  toward  a  small  door  in  the  tower  room 
beneath  her  own;  she  dared  not  attempt  to  unchain  and 
open  the  great  front  doors  studded  with  nails.  She  had 
used  this. humble  means  of  exit  before,  and  although  the 
room  was  full  of  rubbish,  she  found  the  big  rusty  key  with 
out  difficulty,  opened  the  door,  then  with  another  fearful 
glance  about  her  stole  toward  the  middle  of  the  rose  gar 
den.  The  old  bushes  were  very  high  and  ragged,  but  had 
it  not  been  for  an  oak  tree  in  their  midst,  concealment  for 
a  man  nearly  six  feet  high  would  have  been  impossible. 
Julia  made  her  way  straight  toward  the  tree,  and  uttered 
a  loud  "Shhh  — "  when  Nigel  impetuously  left  its  shelter. 

"And  even  this  is  not  safe,"  she  whispered,  as  they  met. 
"We  are  too  near  the  castle,  and  the  duke  always  takes  a 
little  walk  before  he  goes  to  bed.  Follow  me  and  don't 
speak  or  make  any  noise." 

She  led  the  way  out  of  the  rose  garden  and  across  the 


THREE   POTTERS  89 

park  to  a  grove  of  ancient  oaks.  A  brook  wandered  among 
the  trees.  The  moonlight  poured  in.  The  dark  frowning 
mass  of  the  castle  was  plain  to  be  seen.  The  sea  murmured. 
A  nightingale  sang.  No  spot  on  earth  could  have  been 
more  romantic.  Julia  shivered  with  delight,  and  thanked 
the  winking  stars. 

But  Nigel  was  insensible  to  the  romance  of  his  surround 
ings.  Unlike  the  woman,  he  wanted  the  main  factor;  the 
setting  could  take  care  of  itself.  And  he  was  in  a  distracted 
and  desperate  frame  of  mind.  As  Julia  turned  to  him  she 
experienced  her  first  misgiving;  his  face  was  set  and  very 
white. 

"This  is  where  I  often  read  and  dream,"  she  said  con 
versationally.  "It  is  my  favorite  spot." 

"Is  it?  It's  awfully  good  of  you  to  come  out.  I  can't 
tell  you  how  much  I  appreciate  it.  I  might  have  written, 
I  suppose;  but  I  can  only  write  fiction.  Couldn't  put 
down  a  word  of  what  I  wanted  to  say  to  you  —  of  what  I 
felt-  He  broke  off  and  added  passionately,  "Julia! 
Don't  you  care  for  me  —  the  least  bit  ?" 

"No. "  Julia,  not  having  the  faintest  idea  how  to  handle 
such  a  situation,  took  refuge  in  the  bare  truth,  at  all  times 
more  natural  to  her  than  to  most  women.  "I  don't  love 
you,  but  I  think  it  rather  nice  to  meet  you  like  this  for 
once." 

Nigel  groaned.  Like  all  born  artists,  he  understood 
something  of  women  by  instinct,  and  felt  more  hopeless  in 
the  face  of  this  uncompromising  honesty  and  artlessness 
than  when  alone  with  his  imagination. 

"But  you  don't  love  your  husband  ?" 

"Oh,  no.  Not  the  way  you  mean,  at  least.  I've  read 
a  lot  about  love  these  last  months,  and  it  must  be  wonder 
ful.  I've  grown  quite  fond  of  poor  Harold,  but  I  never 
could  love  him  in  that  way.  I  wish  I  could,"  she  added, 
with  a  sudden  sense  of  loyalty  to  the  absent  and  sleeping 
husband. 

"Julia,  you  must  try  to  understand  !  You  never  can 
even  tolerate  that  man.  You  mustn't  live  with  him.  We 


9o  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

were  plotting  to  save  you  from  him  when  he  fell  ill,  and  then 
we  ho  —  we  thought  he'd  die.  But  he's,  he's  —  -  Oh,  please 
don't  look  at  me  as  if  I  were  a  cad.  I  know  you  are  a  brick, 
and  I've  held  out  until  he  was  on  his  legs  again  —  and  I 
nearly  off  my  head.  I  won't  say  a  word  against  him.  Let 
it  go  at  this  —  you  never  can  love  him.  That  I  can  swear 
to  and  you  know  it.  But  you  could  love  some  one,  and  it 
must,  it  must  be  me  !  It  shall  be  !  Julia,  if  you  could 
only  guess  what  love  means,  then  you  might  have  some  idea, 
at  least,  of  how  I  love  you.  But  even  your  instincts  don't 
seem  to  have  awakened.  And  I  haven't  the  chance  to 
teach  you  !  You  must  give  it  to  me  !  You  must !" 

"Do  you  want  me  to  elope  with  you  ?"  asked  Julia,  curi 
ously.  This  was  a  highly  interesting  development,  and 
after  the  manner  of  her  sex,  when  indifferent,  she  grew 
cooler  and  more  analytical  as  her  lover's  flame  mounted. 

"No  —  no  —  not  yet.  I  only  wanted  a  chance  to-night 
to  tell  you  how  I  love  you  —  to  make  you  understand  that 
much,  if  possible.  Oh,  God  !  It  must  be  communicable  ! 
When  you  are  alone  and  think  it  over  —  I  hope  —  I  hope  - 
Meanwhile,  I  want  you  to  promise  to  make  opportunities 
to  meet  me.  I  can't  go  to  the  castle.  But  you  can  meet 
me.  On  the  moor.  Here  at  night.  I  have  waited  long 
enough.  France  no  longer  needs  you.  He  is  nearly  well, 
and  will  get  everything  he  wants  - 

"He  wants  me  more  than  anything  else,"  said  Julia, 
shrewdly.  "He's  as  much  in  love  with  me  as  you  are  - 

"He  shan't  have  you  !"  shouted  Nigel,  and  Julia  stared, 
fascinated,  at  a  face  convulsed  with  passion.  It  was  the 
first  time  she  had  seen  this  tremendous  force  unleashed,  for 
France  had  done  his  courting  under  the  eagle  eye  of  his 
future  mother-in-law,  and  Nigel,  during  their  acquaintance 
in  London,  had  not  progressed  outwardly  beyond  senti 
ment.  Julia,  even  while  deciding  that  sentiment  became 
his  fresh  frank  face  better,  and  shrinking  distastefully  from 
a  passion  so  close  to  her,  was  conscious  of  disappointment 
in  her  own  unresponsiveness.  Nineteen  !  What  an  ideal 
age  for  love !  And  what  lover  could  fill  all  requirements 


THREE    POTTERS  91 

more  satisfactorily  than  Nigel?  But  she  felt  as  cold  as 
the  moon.  To  her  deep  mortification  she  was  obliged  to 
stifle  a  yawn;  it  was  long  past  her  bedtime.  She  an 
swered  with  such  haste  that  her  voice  had  an  encouraging 
quiver  in  it. 

"Oh,  don't  let's  talk  about  him.  It's  so  jolly  to  see  you 
again.  Tell  me  about  your  book.  Have  you  finished  it  ?" 

"I  didn't  come  here  to  talk  about  my  book."  Nigel's 
voice  was  rough.  He  came  so  close  to  her  that  she  shrank 
once  more,  and  turned  away  her  eyes.  "Oh,  I'm  not  going 
to  touch  you.  I  couldn't  unless  you  wanted  me  to,  unless 
you  loved  me  —  That  is  what  I  want :  the  chance  to  make 
you  love  me.  Will  you  give  it  to  me?" 

"I  —  I  don't  see  how  it  is  possible."  She  longed  to  run, 
but  her  female  instincts  were  budding  under  this  tropical 
storm,  and  one  prompted  that  if  she  ran,  terrible  things 
might  happen.  The  most  honest  of  women  is  dishonest  in 
moments  of  danger  pertaining  to  her  sex.  Julia  felt  dan 
ger  in  the  air.  She  also  rejected  Nigel's  protestations. 
She  buckled  on  her  feminine  armor  and  turned  to  him 
sweetly. 

"I  must  think  it  over,"  she  said.  "I  never  even  dreamed 
that  you  were  in  love  with  me.  I  should  never  dare  come 
out  again  at  night.  But  perhaps  on  the  moor,  some  morn- 
ing- 

"I  should  prefer  that.  One  of  the  keepers  or  sen-ants 
might  see  us  in  the  park,  and  I  don't  wish  our  love  to  be 
vulgarized  - 

"Oh!  I  hadn't  thought  of  that!  How  horrid!  I'll 
go  back  this  minute.  You  stay  here  until  I've  had  time  to 
get  inside.  I'll  write  to-morrow.  If  you  follow  me,  I  shall 
never  believe  that  you  love  me  — 

Even  while  she  spoke  she  was  flitting  through  the  grove 
with  every  appearance  of  an  alarm  she  did  not  feel  at  all. 
\krd  ran  after  her. 

"I'll  not  follow  if  you  will  swear  to  meet  me  to-morrow 
morning  —  on  the  cliffs  three  miles  north  from  here." 

"Yes.     Yes.     I  swear  it."    And  she  fled  into  the  broad 


92  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

moonlight  beyond  the  trees,  while  Nigel  flung  himself  on 
the  turf  and  gnashed  his  teeth. 

Julia,  when  she  reached  the  upper  corridor,  almost  ran 
into  the  duke,  but  he  was  near-sighted,  used  to  mice,  and 
she  cowered  behind  an  armored  knight  unsuspected. 
When  she  finally  closed  her  own  door  behind  her,  she  found 
that  all  inclination  to  sleep  had  fled  and  that  she  was  more 
excited  than  while  the  immediate  centre  of  a  love  storm. 
She  sat  by  the  window  for  hours,  thinking  hard,  and  feeling 
several  years  older.  Quite  honest  once  more,  now  that  she 
was  safe  behind  a  locked  door,  she  examined  her  new  prob 
lem  on  every  side.  It  was  quite  possible,  she  confessed,  that 
if  she  had  loved  Nigel,  even  a  bit,  she  might  have  consented 
to  his  program,  for  youth  has  its  rights;  she  had  not  been 
consulted  in  her  marriage,  she  was  more  or  less  a  prisoner, 
with  no  prospect  of  even  youthful  companionship,  and  the 
idea  of  being  a  duchess  did  not  interest  her  at  all.  Of  the 
meaning  of  sin  she  had  but  the  vaguest  idea. 

But  of  loyalty  and  honor  she  had  a  very  distinct  idea. 
Instinct  and  reason  told  her  that  she  never  would  love  Nigel ; 
otherwise,  with  every  provocation,  she  must  have  loved 
him  long  since.  Therefore  would  it  be  unfair  to  play  with 
him.  She  would  far  rather  be  married  to  him  than  to 
France,  for  he  was  young  and  clever  and  charming,  but 
even  were  she  free  now,  she  would  not  marry  him.  There 
fore  was  it  her  duty  to  dismiss  and  cure  him  as  quickly  as 
possible,  not  ruin  his  youth  by  keeping  him  dangling,  after 
what  she  knew  to  be  the  habit  of  many  women.  Also,  for 
the  first  time,  she  felt  really  drawn  to  her  husband,  so  un 
conscious  of  her  naughty  adventure.  After  all,  she  was 
his,  he  adored  her,  and  he  deserved  every  reparation  in  her 
power.  Who  could  tell?  — she  might  love  him.  Love 
appeared  to  be  in  the  nature  of  a  mighty  river  at  spring 
flood ;  no  doubt  it  ingulfed  everything  in  its  way.  She 
had  leaped  to  one  side  to-night,  but  her  husband— yes,  it 
was  conceivable  that  she  might  stand  still  and  await  the 
flood  without  making  faces. 

She  felt  extremely  satisfied  and  virtuous  as  she  lit  her 


THREE   POTTERS  93 

candle  and  wrote  a  kind  but  uncompromising  letter  tc 
Nigel,  taking  back  her  promise  to  meet  him  on  the  morrow, 
and  warning  him  that  if  he  wrote  to  her  she  should  give  his 
letters  to  her  husband.  It  was  not  in  her  to  do  anything 
of  the  sort,  but  she  had  the  gift  of  a  line  straightforward 
forcible  style,  and  her  letter  so  enraged  Nigel  that  he  left 
Kn.u'land  as  quickly  as  steam  could  take  him,  cursing  her 
and  all  women. 
So  ended  their  first  chapter. 


IX 

THE  curtain  had  fallen  on  the  first  act  of  "La  Traviata," 
and  Ishbel,  for  once  alone  in  the  box  with  her  husband, 
glanced  idly  over  the  imposing  tiers  of  Covent  Garden. 
Royalty  was  present,  the  smart  peeresses  were  out  in  full 
force  and  wore  their  usual  brave  display  of  tiaras  and 
miscellaneous  jewels,  inherited  and  otherwise,  so  that  the 
horseshoe  glittered  like  Aladdin's  palace.  There  was  also 
a  jeweller's  window  in  the  stalls,  and  altogether  it  was  a 
representative  night  in  the  beginning  of  the  season. 

Nevertheless,  Ishbel  became  suddenly  and  acutely  aware 
that  she  had  on  more  jewels  than  any  woman  in  the  house. 
Not  only  was  there  an  all-round  and  almost  unbearably 
heavy  tiara. on  her  small  head,  nearly  a  foot  high  and  com 
posed  of  diamonds  and  emeralds  as  large  as  plums,  but  she 
wore  a  rope  of  diamonds  that  reached  far  below  her  knees, 
a  necklace  of  five  rows  of  pearls  as  big  as  her  husband's 
thumb  nails,  and  linked  with  emeralds  and  diamonds,  a 
sunburst  of  diamonds  that  looked  like  a  waterfall,  and 
equally  priceless  gems  cutting  into  the  flesh  of  her  tender 
shoulders  where  they  clasped  the  only  visible  portion^  of 
her  raiment.  Ishbel  was  justly  proud  of  her  magnificent 
collection  of  jewels,  but,  being  a  young  woman  of  unerring 
good  taste,  was  in  the  habit  of  wearing  a  few  at  a  time. 
Several  hours  earlier,  however,  her  husband,  grown  jealous 
of  theprosiliency  of  the  New  South  African  millionnaires,  had 
come  home  with  the  rope  and  commanded  her  to  put  on 
every  jewel  she  possessed  for  the  opera  that  night,  and  the 
first  great  ball  of  the  season  to  follow.  As  she  had  surveyed 
herself  in  her  long  mirror  it  had  occurred  to  her  that  she 
looked  like  a  begum,  but  when  she  had  called  her  husband's 
attention  to  the  fact,  and  suggested  some  modification  in 
her  display  of  converted  capital,  he  had  replied  curtly  that 

94 


THREE   POTTERS  95 

he  had  spent  a  quarter  of  his  fortune  for  the  public  to  look 
at  on  her  equally  ornamental  self,  and  that  when  he  wished 
it  displayed  in  toto,  displayed  it  should  be.  That  is  the 
way  for  a  man  to  talk  to  his  wife  when  he  means  to  be 
obeyed ;  and  when  the  masterful  and  successful  Mr.  Jones 
delivered  his  ultimatums,  few  that  had  aught  to  do  with 
him  were  so  hardy  as  to  continue  the  argument. 

Ishbel  had  trained  herself  to  take  him  humorously,  to 
believe  him  the  most  generous  of  men  because  he  had  proved 
quite  amenable  to  the  family  plan  of  marrying  off  her  sis 
ters  (they  were  handsome  and  an  additional  excuse  for 
entertaining),  and  because  he  never  alluded  to  her  enormous 
bills  or  forgot  to  hand  her  a  check  for  pin-money  every 
quarter.  She  had  rewarded  him  with  thanks  couched  in  an 
endless  variety  of  terms  and  glances,  even  caresses  when  he 
demanded  them.  When  they  were  alone  at  table  (as  sel 
dom  as  she  could  manage)  she  even  coquetted  with  him, 
giving  him  the  full  play  of  her  piquant  eyes  and  sweet  smile, 
and  talking  in  her  brightest  manner,  to  conceal  from  him 
self  how  hopeless  he  was  in  conversation.  She  even  pitied 
him  sometimes;  for,  in  spite  of  his  riches,  his  interests  in 
the  City,  and  the  great  position  in  society  that  she  had 
given  him,  he  seemed  to  her  a  lonely  being,  and  she  would 
have  loved  him  if  she  could. 

To-night,  however,  his  words  had  rankled.  They  had 
echoed  during  the  drive  to  the  opera-house,  stirring  her 
most  amiable  of  minds  to  a  vague  anger;  and  now,  quite 
suddenly,  she  was  filled  with  an  intense  mortification  and 
resentment.  Even'  intelligent  being  that  has  made  a  signal 
mistake  in  his  life's  order  has  some  sudden  moment  of  awak 
ening,  of  vision.  The  phrase  "kept  wife"  had  not  yet  ar 
rived  in  literature,  but  it  rose  in  Ishbel's  mind  as  she  glanced 
from  her  white  slender  body,  wear}'  in  its  glittering  armor, 
to  the  big  heavy  man  opposite,  sitting  with  a  hand  on  either 
knee,  his  hard  bright  little  eyes  surveying  her  with  trium 
phant  approval.  She  was  his  property ;  he  owned  her.  as  he 
owned  his  house  in  Park  Lane,  the  castle  he  had  recently 
bought  from  a  peer  terrified  by  the  remodelling  of  the  death 


96  JULIA   FRANCE   AND    HER   TIMES 

duties,  his  princely  equipages,  the  noisy  jewels  on  her  person. 
After  all,  she  had  not  a  penny  of  her  own,  was  as  poor  as 
when  she  had  been  one  of  fourteen  hopeless  sisters  in  Ire 
land  ;  Jor  he  had  carefully  abstained  from  settlements,  that 
she  might  feel  her  dependence,  thank  him  periodically  for 
his  splendid  checks.  Her  father  had  been  in  no  position 
to  insist  upon  settlements,  but,  had  he  been,  would  she  be 
any  better  off  ethically  than  now  ?  They  would  have  been 
but  another  present  from  the  man  who  had  bought  her  as 
he  had  bought  his  other  famous  possessions.  If  she  had 
children,  they  would  be  his,  not  hers,  and  there  was  nothing 
he  could  not  compel  her  to  do,  and  be  upheld  by  the  laws  of 
his  country,  unless  he  both  beat  her  and  kept  a  mistress. 

She  suddenly  loathed  him.  That  she  had  given  him 
value  received  made  her  loathe  him,  and  herself,  the  more. 
She  shrank  until  she  expected  to  hear  her  jewels  rattle  to 
gether,  then  raised  her  eyes  again  and  flashed  them  about 
the  house.  She  picked  out  twenty  women  in  that  glance 
who  had  sold  their  beauty  for  what  their  jewels  represented, 
although,  for  the  most  part,  they  had  the  saving  grace  to 
be  owned  by  gentlemen.  But  were  they  so  much  better 
off  ?  Jones,  at  least,  was  now  inoffensive  in  his  manners  and 
speech.  Many  gentlemen  she  knew  were  not,  and  one  duke 
had  a  habit  of  catching  her  by  the  arm  and  leering  into  her 
crimsoning  ear  a  horrid  story.  But  that  was  not  the  point. 
What  was  the  point  ?  That  women  who  married  men  for 
jewels  and  not  for  love  were  no  better  than  the  women  of 
the  street  ?  Most  women  would  have  stopped  there.  It  is 
a  sentimental  form  of  reasoning,  eminently  satisfactory  to 
many  women,  and  to  some  male  novelists.  But  Ishbel 
had  been  born  with  a  clear  logical  brain  in  which  the  fatal 
gift  of  humor  was  seldom  dormant,  and  of  late  this  brain 
had  shown  symptoms  of  impatience  at  neglect,  muttered 
vague  demands  for  recognition.  Youth,  a  natural  love  of 
gayety,  pleasure,  splendor,  reigning  as  a  beauty,  a  laud 
able  desire  to  help  one's  family,  —  all  very  well  —  but  - 

Ishbel's  inner  vision  pierced  straight  down  to  the  root 
(ornamentally  overlaid)  of  the  whole  matter.  The  por- 


THREE   POTTERS  97 

tionlcss  woman,  whether  there  was  love  between  herself 
and  her  husband  or  not,  was  a  property,  a  subject,  an  an 
nex,  nothing  more,  not  even  if  she  bore  him  children.  In 
deed,  in  the  latter  case  she  but  proved  the  old  contention 
that  in  bearing  children  she  fulfilled  her  only  mission  on 
earth. 

Ishbel  had  heard,  as  one  hears  of  all  civilized  activities, 
of  Woman's  Suffrage;  this,  too,  passed  in  review  before 
that  search-light  in  her  mind,  and  she  wondered  if  the  women 
asking  for  it  dared  to  do  so  unless  economically  independent. 
She  and  Bridgit,  when  resting  on  their  labors  two  years 
before,  —  a  breathing  spell  in  the  grouse  season,  —  had 
amused  themselves  in  the  library  tracing  the  course  of 
woman  during  those  periods  of  the  world's  history  when 
she  had  been  famous  for  her  innings;  and  both  had  been 
struck  by  the  fact  that  when  nations  were  at  peace  and  man 
enjoyed  prosperity  and  comparative  leisure,  woman's  emi 
nence  and  apparent  freedom  had  been  but  her  lord's  op 
portunity  to  display  his  riches  and  gratify  the  non-military 
side  of  his  vanity.  Only  in  a  small  minority  of  cases  had 
this  eminence  and  freedom  been  the  result  of  self-support, 
inherited  wealth,  genius,  or  dynastic  authority :  the  vast 
majority  had  been  toys,  jewel-laden  henchwomcn ;  even 
the  great  courtesans  had  been  dependent  upon  their  youth 
and  charm  and  the  caprice  of  man. 

No  wonder  so  few  women  had  left  an  impress  on  history. 
How  could  any  brain,  even  if  endowed  with  true  genius, 
reach  the  highest  order  of  development  while  the  character 
remained  flaccid  in  its  willing  dependence  upon  the  reign 
ing  sex  ?  And  man  had  despised  woman  throughout  the 
ages,  even  when  most  enslaved  by  her,  knowing  that  on 
him  depended  her  very  existence.  He  had  the  physical 
strength  to  wring  her  neck,  and  the  legal  backing  to  treat 
her  as  partner  or  servant,  whichever  he  found  agreeable 
or  convenient.  She  and  Bridgit  had  discussed  this 
phenomenon  philosophically  but  impersonally,  it  being 
understood  that  when  they  did  give  their  brains  exercise, 


98  JULIA    FRANCE   AXD   HER  TIMES 

it  should  not  interfere  with  their  youthful  enjoyment  of 
life;  nor  should  the  exercise  continue  long  enough  to 
become  a  habit ;  time  enough  for  that  sort  of  thing  when 
one  had  turned  thirty.  But  it  occurred  to  Ishbel  in  these 
moments  of  painful  clarity.  She  had  not  taken  the  least 
interest  in  Woman's  Suffrage,  a  movement  under  a  cloud 
at  this  time,  but  she  had  a  sudden  and  poignant  desire  to 
be  independent,  and  a  simultaneous  conviction  that  no 
woman  was  worthy  of  anything  better  than  being  one  of 
man's  miscellaneous  properties  until  she  were.  What  right 
had  women,  supported  by  men,  living  on  their  exertions 
or  fortunes,  displayed  or  used  at  their  pleasure,  tricking 
them  by  a  thousand  ingenious  devices  to  gain  their  ends, 
to  be  regarded  as  equals,  political  or  otherwise  ?  The  most 
democratic  of  woman  employers,  unless  a  faddist,  did  not 
regard  her  employees,  particularly  her  servants,  as  equals ; 
and  yet  they,  at  least,  worked  for  their  bread,  were  eco 
nomically  independent,  could  throw  up  their  situations  with 
out  scandal.  Ishbel  had  twenty-three  servants  in  her 
ugly  Park  Lane  mansion,  and  in  the  bitterness  of  her  humili 
ation  she  felt  herself  the  inferior  of  the  scullery  maid.  She 
opened  her  eyes  wide,  staring  out  upon  the  world  through 
the  glittering  curtain  before  her.  What  an  extraordinary 
world  it  was  !  How  silly  !  How  uncivilized  !  How  in 
complete  !  What  might  not  women  attain  with  complete 
self-respect,  and  how  utterly  hopeless  was  their  case  without 
it! 

"What  are  you  thinking  about?"  asked  Mr.  Jones,  cu 
riously.  He  had  been  watching  her  for  some  moments. 

"That  I  ache  with  all  these  ridiculous  jewels.1'  Ishbel 
stood  up  and  walked  deliberately  to  the  back  of  the  box. 
"I  feel  as  if  I  were  wearing  an  old-fashioned  crystal  chande 
lier.  Will  you  kindly  put  my  cloak  on  ?" 

Jones  had  risen  (being  well  trained  in  the  small  courtesies), 
but  he  showed  no  intention  of  following  her. 

"Certainly  not,"  he  said  peremptorily.  "Sit  down.  I 
wish  you  to  remain  here  until  it  is  time  to  go  to  the  duchess's 
ball—" 


THREE   POTTERS  99 

"I'm  not  going  to  the  duchess's  ball.     I'm  going  home.' 

He  stared  at  her,  his  long  straight  mouth  opening  slightly, 
and  his  heavy  underjaw  twitching.  Like  many  million- 
naires,  self-made,  he  looked  like  a  retired  prize-fighter,  and 
for  the  moment  he  felt  as  old  gods  of  the  ring  must  feel  when 
brushed  contemptuously  aside  by  arrogant  youth.  This 
was  the  first  time  his  wife  had  shown  the  slightest  hint  of 
rebellion,  deviated  from  a  sweetness  and  tact  that  was  with 
out  either  condescension  from  her  lofty  birth,  or  servility 
to  his  wealth.  But  there  was  neither  sweetness  nor  tact 
in  her  small  pinched  face.  Her  mouth  was  as  compressed 
as  his  own  could  be,  and  the  expression  of  her  eyes  fright 
ened  him. 

"What  on  earth's  the  matter  with  you?"  he  asked 
roughly. 

"I  tell  you  I  don't  like  the  idea  of  looking  like  an  idol, 
a  chandelier,  a  begum,  what  you  will ;  of  having  on  more 
jewels  than  any  woman  in  the  house;  of  looking  nouveau 
riche,  if  you  will  have  it.  And  I  am  tired  and  am  going 
home  to  bed.  You  can  come  or  not,  as  you  like." 

She  put  on  her  cloak.  Jones,  swearing  under  his  breath, 
but  helpless,  caught  up  his  own  coat  and  hat  and  followed 
her  out  of  the  house.  But  although  he  stormed,  protested, 
even  condescended  to  beg,  all  the  way  home,  she  would  not 
utter  another  word,  and  when  she  reached  her  room,  locked 
the  door  behind  her. 


THE  next  morning  she  sought  Bridgit,  having  ascer 
tained  by  telephone  that  her  friend  was  alone.  The  Hon. 
Mrs.  Herbert,  although  " masculine"  only  in  so  far  as  Na 
ture  had  endowed  her  with  a  strong  positive  mind  and  char 
acter,  physical  and  mental  courage,  and  a  disdain  of  all 
pettiness  (the  hypothetical  masculine  ideal),  thought  bou 
doirs  silly,  and  called  her  personal  room  in  South  Audley 
Street  a  den.  Not  that  it  in  the  least  resembled  a  man's 
den.  It  was  a  long  and  narrow  room  on  the  first  floor  at 
the  back  of  the  house,  and  furnished  with  deep  chairs  and 
sofas  covered  with  flowered  chintzes,  and  several  good 
pieces  of  Sheraton.  She  was  known  for  her  fine  collection 
of  remarque  etchings,  and  the  best  of  them  were  in  this 
room.  The  large  table  was  set  out  with  reviews  and  new 
books,  which  she  bought  on  principle,  although  she  found 
time  for  little  more  than  a  glance  at  their  contents.  Her 
cigarette-box  was  of  elaborately  chased  silver.  Good  a 
sportswoman  as  she  was,  she  was  not  in  the  least  "sporty," 
being  too  well  balanced  and  well  bred  to  assume  a  pose  of 
any  sort.  She  was  a  woman  of  the  world  with  many  tastes, 
who  was  destined  to  have  a  good  many  more. 

When  Ishbel  entered,  she  was  walking  up  and  down,  her 
hands  clasped  behind  her,  her  heavy  black  brows  drawn 
above  the  brooding  darkness  below.  She,  too,  was  in  an 
unenviable  frame  of  mind. 

Her  brows  relaxed  as  she  saw  Ishbel.  "What  on  earth 
is  the  matter?"  she  exclaimed. 

Ishbel,  who  had  not  slept  but  was  quite  calm,  sat  down 
and  told  her  story. 

"I  don't  suppose  you  quite  understand  how  I  feel,"  she 
concluded;  "for  you  have  always  had  your  own  fortune, 


THREE    POTTERS  101 

have  never  even  been  dependent  on  your  father.  But  of 
one  thing  I  am  positive :  if  you  found  yourself  in  my  posi 
tion,  you  would  feel  exactly  as  I  do.  So  I  have  come  to  you 
to  talk  it  out." 

"Of  course  I  understand."  Bridgit  turned  her  back 
and  walked  to  the  end  of  the  room.  She  longed  to  add: 
"It  is  quite  as  humiliating  to  keep  a  husband  as  to  be  kept 
by  one;  rather  worse,  as  tradition  and  instincts  don't 
sanction  it."  But  there  are  some  things  that  cannot  be 
said,  save,  indeed,  through  the  offices  of  the  pineal  gland; 
and  as  Bridgit,  on  her  return  march,  paused  and  looked 
down  upon  Ishbel,  standing  in  an  attitude  of  rigid  defiance, 
with  quivering  nostrils  and  fierce  half-closed  eyes,  possibly 
her  friend  received  a  telepathic  flash,  for  she  exclaimed 
impulsively:  — 

"You  are  in  trouble,  too.     What  is  it  ?" 

"Trouble  is  a  line  general  term  for  my  ailment.  I'm 
merely  disgusted,  dissatisfied  —  on  general  principles. 
Possibly  it's  the  effect  of  reading  Nigel's  book." 

"I  haven't  had  time  to  read  it,  but  I'm  so  happy  it  has 
created  a  furore,  and  hope  he'll  come  back  to  be  lionized. 
Odd  he  should  write  about  the  slums." 

"Not  at  all.  The  slums  are  always  being  discovered  by 
bright  young  men,  who,  with  the  true  ardor  of  the  explorer, 
proceed  to  enlighten  the  world.  Nigel  —  the  story's  not 
up  to  much  —  but  he  has  the  genius  of  expression,  and, 
having  made  the  amazing  discovery  of  poverty,  communi 
cates  his  own  amazement  that  it  should  have  continued  to 
exist  in  civilized  countries  up  to  the  eve  of  the  twentieth 
century  —  and  his  horror  at  its  forms.  Some  of  his  scenes 
are  quite  awfully  vivid.  But  he's  no  sentimentalist;  he 
doesn't  call  for  more  charities ;  he  doesn't  even  pity  the  poor; 
he  dr>j>i>cs  them  as  they  deserve  to  be  despised  for  being 
poor,  for  their  asininity  in  permitting  and  enduring.  But 
he  demands  in  their  name,  since  the  best  of  them  are  wholly 
incompetent  as  thinkers,  that  the  educated  shall  favor  a 
form  of  Socialism  which  shall  not  only  provide  remunera 
tive  employment  for  them,  but  compel  them  to  work  — 


102  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

grinding  the  idle,  the  worthless,  the  vicious  to  the  wall, 
and  training  the  new  generation  to  annihilate  poverty. 
Great  heaven  !  What  a  disgrace  it  is  —  that  poverty  - 
to  the  individual,  to  the  world,  to  the  poor,  to  the  rich.  I 
never  realized  it  until  I  read  that  book.  Other  'discov 
erers'  have  pu-;  my  back  up.  But  Nigel  is  one  of  us;  and 
when  he  sees  it—  and  what  a  clear  vision  he  has  - 

"How  splendid!"  cried  Ishbel,  also  forgetting  her  own 
trouble  for  the  moment.  "And  to  be  able  to  write  like 
that  will  help  him  to  forget  Julia  —  must  make  all  personal 
aflairs  seem  insignificant.  Would  that  we  all  had  such  a 
solace!" 

"  Solace  !  We  are  both  strong  enough  to  scorn  the  word. 
But  having  been  awakened,  I  should  have  no  excuse  if  I 
went  to  sleep  again.  Nor  you.  I  haven't  made  up  my  mind 
what  I'll  do  yet,  merely  that  I'll  do  something.  I'm  sick 
of  society.  It's  a  bally  grind.  Five  years  of  it  are  enough 
for  any  woman  with  brains  instead  of  porridge  in  her  skull. 
I'm  glad  you've  had  a  shock  about  the  same  time  —  should 
have  administered  it  if  you  hadn't.  Of  course  I  shall  con 
tinue  to  hunt,  and  keep  house  for  Geoffrey,  and  watch  over 
my  child,  but  all  that  uses  up  about  one-tenth  of  my  ener 
gies,  and  no  more.  What  I'll  do,  I  don't  know.  I'm  floun 
dering.  Lovers  are  no  solution  for  me.  They're  demod6s, 
anyhow.  I'm  after  some  big  solution  both  elemental  and 
progressive.  Of  course  I  shall  begin  with  politics  -  -  by 
studying  our  problems  on  all  sides,  I  mean,  not  having 
hysterics  over  the  party  claptrap  of  the  moment.  That 
and  a  hard  course  in  German  literature  will  tone  my  mind 
up.  It's  all  run  to  seed.  The  rest  will  come  in  due  course. 
Tell  me  what  you  propose  to  do.  But  of  course  you've 
had  no  time  to  decide." 

"Oh,  but  I  have.     I'm  going  to  open  a  milliner  shop.' 

"What  ? "      Mrs.  Herbert  sat  down. 

"You  may  think  me  vain,  but  I  know  that  I  can  trim 
hats  better  than  any  woman  in  London." 

"Yes  —  of  course.     But  Mr.  Jones ? " 

"I  think  I  can  make  him  consent  —  advance  me  the 


THREE   POTTERS  103 

money  —  by  persuading  him  that  it  is  a  new  fad  with  the 
aristocracy  —  I'll  point  out  to  him  several  titles  over  shops 
in  Bond  Street." 

"You  have  an  Irish  imagination.     He  .vo^t  i)e?r  of  Ii.'' 

"I'm  sure  I  can  talk  him  over  - 

"Besides,  it  isn't  fair.  It  will  make.ro  cn<J  of  taik,  and 
him  ridiculous.  If  you  go  in  for  independence  —  and  do, 
by  all  means  —  don't  begin  your  sex  emancipation  with 
the  sex  methods  of  second-rate  women.  Men  are  supposed 
to  be  direct,  straightforward,  above  the  petty  wiles  to  which 
women  have  been  compelled  to  resort  since  man  owned  them. 
They  are  not,  but,  being  the  ruling  sex,  have  forced  the  world 
to  accept  them  at  their  own  estimate.  Besides,  they  find 
the  standard  convenient.  That  it  is  a  worthy  standard,  no 
one  will  dispute.  At  least  if  we  women  cannot  be  wholly- 
truthful,  we  need  not  be  greater  liars  than  they  are.  And 
we  can  score  a  point  by  adopting  the  same  standard.  Tell 
Mr.  Jones  that  you  have  decided  upon  independence,  that 
if  he  doesn't  put  up  the  money,  I  will;  but  don't  throw  dust 
in  his  eyes  —  I  doubt  if  you  could,  anyhow." 

"Would  you  really?"' 

"Of  course  I  would.  It  would  be  great  fun.  But  what 
is  the  rest  of  your  program  ?  Do  you  propose  to  leave 
him  ?  To  cook  his  social  goose  ?  " 

"No,  he  has  been  too  generous,  whatever  his  motives. 
No  girl  has  ever  had  a  better  time,  and  nothing  can  alter 
the  fact  that  he  has  rescued  my  family  from  poverty.  Even 
if  he  cut  both  daddy  and  myself  off  his  pay-roll,  Aleece  and 
Hermione  and  Shelah  are  rich  enough  to  take  care  of  the 
rest.  I  have  done  my  duty  by  the  family  !  No,  I  am  quite 
willing  to  occupy  a  room  in  his  house,  go  to  the  opera  with 
him,  even  to  such  social  affairs  as  I  have  time  and  strength 
for  —  I  really  intend  to  work,  mind  you,  and  to  start  in 
rather  a  small  way,  that  I  may  pay  back  what  I  borrow  the 
sooner." 

"How  you  have  thought  it  all  out !  I  wish  I  had  some 
thing  definite  in  sight.  I  despise  the  women  that  merely 
fill  in  time  with  intellectual  pursuits,  and  I'll  be  hanged  if 


io4  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

I  take  to  settlement  work  —  the  last  resource  of  the  nov 
elist  who  wants  to  make  his  elevated  heroine  'do  some 
thing.'  I  must  frnd  my  particular  ability  and  exercise  it. 
To 'work  with -you  actively  in  the  shop  would  be  a  mere 
SjiI;U.Tfug(vas  I  don't  need  money.  But  never  mind  me 
-"When  are- you  gping  to  speak  to  Mr.  Jones?" 

"This  afternoon.  I  wanted  to  talk  it  out  with  you  first. 
We  Irish  are  extravagant.  I  was  afraid  I  might  have  got 
off  my  base  a  bit." 

"The  world  will  think  you  mad,  of  course.  But  that 
only  proves  how  sane  you  are.  I  wish  I  could  get  together 
about  a  hundred  women,  prominent  socially  —  merely 
because  society  women  are  supposed  to  be  all  frivolous  - 
to  set  a  pace.  I  assume  that  the  average  woman  in  any  class 
is  a  fool,  but  there  is  no  reason  why  she  should  remain  one ; 
and  the  exceptional  women,  of  whom  there  must  be  thou 
sands,  only  lack  courage,  initiative,  a  leader.  By  the  way, 
what  do  you  hear  of  Julia  ?  I  haven't  had  a  letter  for  two 
months." 

"They  are  to  remain  at  Bosquith  until  the  dissolution  of 
Parliament,  nursing  their  constituency.  She  is  doing  the 
lady-of-the-manor  act,  visiting  among  the  poor,  petting 
babies,  and  all  the  rest  of  it  —  but  putting  in  most  of  her 
time  with  her  beloved  books.  She  rarely  mentions  France's 
name." 

"Never  to  me.  But  I  know  from  one  of  my  aunts - 
Peg  —  that  he's  too  occupied  getting  back  his  health  and 
pleasing  the  duke  to  drink  or  let  his  temper  go.  No  doubt 
he's  making  a  very  decent  husband.  It  may  last.  But 
whether  it  does  or  not,  I'm  not  going  to  let  Julia  go.  ^She's 
made  of  uncommon  stuff  and  must  become  one  of  us." 


XI 

IT  was  with  some  trepidation  that  Ishbel  sought  her  hus 
band  in  the  library  a  few  hours  later,  and,  in  spite  of  her  re 
solve  to  "be  square,"  could  not  resist  assuming  her  most 
ingratiating  manner.  Her  eyes  were  full  of  witchery,  her 
kissable  mouth  wore  its  most  provocative  curves.  Any 
thing  less  like  an  emancipated  wife  or  a  prospective  business 
woman  never  rose  upon  man's  haunted  imagination ;  and 
as  for  Mr.  Jones,  who  had  been  waiting  for  an  explanation 
of  some  sort,  he  thought  that  she  had  come  to  apologize, 
to  confess  to  a  passing  hysteria,  possibly  to  jealousy  induced 
by  the  fact  that  the  wife  of  one  of  the  South  African  million- 
naires  had  worn  a  ruby  the  night  before  that  was  the  talk 
of  the  town.  Well,  she  should  have  a  bigger  one  if  the 
earth  could  be  made  to  yield  it  up. 

Mr.  Jones  returned  home  every  afternoon  at  precisely 
the  same  hour,  and  to-day,  having  "smartened  up,"  was 
sitting  in  a  leather  chair  near  the  window  with  a  finance 
review  in  his  hand,  when  Ishbel  entered.  He  did  not  rise, 
but  asked  her  if  she  felt  better,  indicated  a  chair  opposite 
his  own,  and  waited  for  her  to  begin.  She  should  have  her 
ruby,  or  whatever  it  was  she  wanted,  but  not  until  she  was 
properly  humble  and  asked  for  it. 

Ishbel  smiled  into  those  eyes  that  always  reminded  her 
of  shoe  buttons,  and  said  sweetly,  "I  was  horrid,  of  course, 
last  night  - 

"You  were.  And  it  was  extremely  unpleasant  for  me 
at  the  ball.  Nobody  addressed  me  except  to  ask  where 
you  were.  I  felt  like  a  keejx^r  minus  his  performing  bear." 
His  tone  was  not  without  bitterness. 

"  I  am  so  sorry.     But!  could  not  go.     I  wanted  to  think." 

"Think?  Why  on  earth  should  you  think?  You  have 
nothing  to  think  about ;  merely  to  spend  money  and  look 
beautiful." 

105 


io6  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

Ishbel  smiled  again,  showing  her  dimples.  There  was 
not  an  edge  of  her  inflexible  will  visible  in  the  beautiful 
hazel  eyes  that  she  turned  full  upon  him.  "Well,  the  fact 
remains  that  I  did  think.  And  this  is  the  result:  I  wish  to 
earn  my  living." 

His  jaw  dropped.     He  thought  she  had  lost  her  mind. 

"It  is  quite  true,  and  I  mean  to  do  it.  I  find  I  don't 
like  living  on  any  one.  We've  never  pretended  to  love  each 
other.  If  we  did  —  well,  I  think  I  should  have  felt  the 
same  way  a  little  later.  As  it  is,  I  don't  find  it  nice,  living 
on  you  - 

"You're  my  wife!"  thundered  Mr.  Jones.  "What  the 
hell  are  you  talking  about?" 

"I've  no  right  to  be  your  wife  — " 

"You've  been  a  damned  long  time  finding  it  out  - 

"Five  years.  Bridgit  says  I  have  an  Irish  imagination. 
I've  worked  it  persistently  for  five  years,  and  worked  it  to 
death.  I  not  only  persuaded  myself  that  I  was  doing  you 
a  tremendous  service,  but  that  I  was  entirely  happy  in 
being  young  and  having  all  the  luxuries  and  pleasures  and 
gayeties  that  youth  demands.  I  am  only  twenty-four. 
Five  years  in  one's  first  youth  is  not  so  long  a  time  for  de 
lusion  to  last  - 

"Have  you  fallen  in  love?" 

"Not  for  more  than  three  hours  at  a  time.  Somehow, 
you  all  fall  short,  one  way  or  another.  I  think  I  have  fallen 
in  love  with  myself.  At  all  events  I  want  an  individual 
place  in  the  world,  and,  as  the  world  is  at  present  consti 
tuted,  the  only  people  that  are  really  respected  are  those  that 
either  inherit  fortunes  or  abstract  the  largest  amount  of 
money  from  other  people.  Even  birth  is  going  out  of 
fashion.  It  doesn't  weigh  a  feather  in  the  scale  against 
money." 

"You're  talking  like  a  lunatic.  I  couldn't  have  got 
into  society  with  all  my  millions  without  you,  or  some  one 
else  born  with  a  marketable  title,  and  you  know  it."  Mr. 
Jones  was  so  astonished  that  only  plain  facts  lighted  the 
chaos  of  his  mind. 


THREE   POTTERS  107 

"All  the  same  you  are  far  more  respected  than  my  poor 
old  father,  who  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  O'Neil.  Even 
if  people  did  not  respect  you  personally,  —  and  of  course 
they  do,  —  they  all  respect  you  far  more  than  they  do  me. 
Who  would  look  at  me  if  I  had  married  one  of  your  clerks 
-  birth  or  no  birth  ?  And  who  regards  me,  as  it  is,  but 
anything  more  than  one  of  your  best  investments  ?  I  am 
useful  to  you  and  pay  my  way,  but  I'm  of  no  earthly  im 
portance  as  an  individual.  I  haven't  even  as  good  a  posi 
tion  as  Bridgit,  who  inherited  a  fortune,  although  a  baga 
telle  compared  to  yours  - 

"Is  that  what  you're  after  —  a  slice  of  my  fortune  in 
your  own  right?" 

"No,  I  only  want  enough  to  start  me  in  business,  and  I 
shall  pay  it  back  — " 

"I'll  have  you  put  in  a  lunatic  asylum.  What  business 
do  you  fancy  you  could  make  a  go  in  ?  Mine  ? '' 

"No.  The  French  bourgeoisie  are  about  the  only 
people  that  have  solved  the  sex  problem :  every  woman 
in  the  shop-keeping  class,  at  least,  is  her  husband's  working 
partner.  But  financial  brains  are  not  indigenous  to  my 
class.  If  I  had  one,  I'd  make  myself  useful  to  you  in  the 
only  way  that  counts,  and  charge  you  high  for  my  services. 
But  as  it  is,  I'm  going  to  do  the  one  thing  I  happen  to  be 
fitted  for  —  I'm  going  to  be  a  milliner." 

"A  milliner!"  roared  Mr.  Jones.  His  face  was  purple. 
It  was  all  very  well  to  assume  that  his  butterfly  had  gone 
mad  ;  he  had  a  hideous  premonition  that  she  was  in  earnest 
and  as  sane  as  he  was.  In  fact,  he  felt  on  the  verge  of 
lunacy  himself.  He  could  hear  his  house  of  cards  rattling 
about  him. 

"Yes,"  said  Ishbel,  smiling  at  him,  as  she  had  always 
smiled  when  asking  him  to  invite  another  of  her  sisters  to 
visit  them.  "I  can  trim  hats  beautifully.  My  hats  are 
noted  in  London  - 

"They  ought  to  be.  The  bills  that  come  from  those 
Paris  robbers  - 

<4I  retrim  every  hat  I  get  from  the  best  of  them.     And 


io8  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

I've  pulled  to  pieces  the  hats  of  some  of  the  richest  of  my 
friends.  They  will  all  patronize  me.  I  shan't  rob  them, 
and  I  have  at  least  fifty  ideas  for  this  season  that  will  be 
original  without  being  bizarre  —  hats  that  will  suit  indi 
vidual  faces  and  not  be  duplicated.  Oh,  I  know  that  I 
have  a  positive  genius  for  millinery  !" 

The  purple  fell  from  Mr.  Jones's  face,  leaving  it  pallid. 
He  stared  at  her,  not  only  in  consternation,  but  in  deeper 
perplexity  than  he  had  ever  felt  in  his  life.  Probably  there 
is  no  state  of  the  masculine  mind  so  amusing  to  the  dis 
interested  outsider  as  the  chaos  into  which  it  is  thrown  by 
some  unexpected  revelation  of  woman's  divergence  from 
the  pattern.  It  has  only  been  during  those  long  periods  of 
the  world's  history,  as  Bridgit  and  Ishbel  had  discovered, 
when  men  were  at  war,  that  women,  poor,  even  in  their 
castles,  with  every  faculty  strained  to  feed  and  rear  their 
children,  and  no  society  of  any  sort,  often  without  educa 
tion,  have  given  men  the  excuse  to  regard  them  as  inferior 
beings  —  physical  prowess  at  such  times  being  the  standard. 
But  men  have  had  so  many  rude  awakenings  that  their 
continued  blindness  can  only  be  explained  by  the  fact  that 
a  large  percentage  of  women,  while  no  idler  and  lazier  than 
many  men,  have  been  able  to  flourish  as  parasites  through 
the  accident  of  their  sex.  During  every  period  of  compara 
tive  peace  and  plenty,  women  of  another  caliber  have  shown 
themselves  tyrannous,  active,  exorbitant  in  their  demands, 
and  mentally  as  alert  as  men.  If  they  disappeared  period 
ically,  it  was  only  because  they  had  not  fully  found  them 
selves,  had  exercised  their  abilities  to  no  definite  end.  A 
recent  German  psychologist,  one  of  the  maddest  and  most 
ingenious,  discovered  something  portentous  in  such  peri 
odicity  as  he  took  note  of :  the  prominence  of  woman  in 
the  tenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  centuries,  and  again  in 
the  nineteenth  and  twentieth,  assuming  it  to  be  the  result 
of  an  excess  of  hermaphrodite  and  sexually  intermediate 
forms,  a  state  of  affairs  not  unknown  in  the  vegetable  king 
dom.  Therefore,  must  woman's  periodic  revolt  mean  noth 
ing  more  than  a  biological  phenomenon. 


THREE   POTTERS  109 

This  theory  would  furnish  food  for  much  uneasiness  were 
it  not  that  the  philosopher  overlooked,  deliberately  or 
otherwise,  the  fact  that  woman's  star  has  flamed  at  some 
period  or  other  in  nearly  every  century,  and  that  these 
periods  have  coincided  with  man's  ingenuous  elevation  of 
her  to  gratify  his  vanity  while  his  chests  were  full  and  his 
weapons  idle.  Since  the  beginning  of  time,  so  far  as  we 
have  any  record  of  it,  women  have  sprung  to  the  top  the 
moment  that  peace  permitted  wealth,  leisure,  and  servants ; 
and  so  far  from  their  success  being  due  to  abnormality, 
their  progress  and  development  have  been  steadily  cumula 
tive.  To-day,  for  the  first  time,  they  are  highly  enough 
developed  to  take  their  places  beside  men  in  politics,  know 
themselves  well  enough  to  hold  on,  not  drop  the  reins  the 
moment  the  world's  conditions  demand  the  physical  activ 
ities  of  the  fighting  sex. 

Although  the  great  Woman's  Suffrage  movement  was, 
for  the  moment,  in  the  rear  of  the  world's  problems,  thou 
sands  of  women  in  England  and  America  were  thinking  of 
little  else,  planning  and  working  quietly,  awaiting  their 
leader.  This  psychological  wave  had  washed  over  Ishbel's 
sensitive  brain  and  done  its  work  quite  as  thoroughly  as  if 
she  had  gone  to  Manchester  and  sat  at  the  feet  of  Dr. 
Pankhurst.  It  is  the  fashion  to  give  Ibsen  the  credit  of  the 
revolt  of  woman  from  the  tyranny  of  man,  but  that  is  sheer 
nonsense  to  any  one  acquainted  with  the  history  of  woman. 
Ibsen  was  a  symptom,  a  voice,  as  all  great  artists  are,  but 
no  radical  changes  spring  full  fledged  from  any  brain  ;  they 
are  the  slow  work  of  the  centuries. 

"Perhaps  I  should  have  put  it  another  way,"  said  Ish- 
bel.  "I  fancy  the  point  is,  not  that  the  world  respects  you 
more  for  amassing  wealth,  but  that  you  respect  yourself 
so  enormously  for  having  won  in  the  greatest  and  most  diffi 
cult  game  that  men  have  ever  played.  Diplomacy  is  noth 
ing  to  it.  That  only  requires  brains  and  training.  To  coax 
gold  from  full  pockets  into  empty  ones  and  remain  on  the 
right  side  of  the  law,  requires  a  magnetic  needle  in  the  brain, 
and  is  a  distinct  form  of  genius.  Talk  about  riches  not 


no  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

bringing  happiness,  I  don't  believe  there  is  a  rich  man  living, 
even  if  he  has  only  inherited  his  wealth,  who  does  not  find 
happiness  in  his  peculiar  form  of  self-respect,  and  in  his 
contempt  for  the  failures.  If  he  has  inherited,  it  is  an 
achievement  to  retain,  and  when  he  has  made  his  fortune, 
he  must  feel  a  bigger  man  than  any  king.  Well,  in  my 
little  way,  I  purpose  to  enjoy  that  sensation.  And  to  make 
money,  to  accumulate  wealth,  is,  I  am  positive,  one  of  the 
primary  instincts  —  if  it  were  not,  the  world  would  have 
been  socialistic  a  thousand  years  ago.  But  the  secret  de 
sire  in  too  many  millions  of  hearts  has  prevented  it  - 

"  My  God  ! "  roared  Mr.  Jones.     "  Have  you  got  brains  ?" 

"I  hope  so."  She  smiled  mischievously.  "I  couldn't 
make  money  without  them." 

" Suppose  you  had  half  a  dozen  children?" 

"Of  course,  if  I  hadn't  thought  it  all  out  in  time,  I  should 
bring  them  up  first.  But  I  feel  sure  the  time  will  come 
when  every  self-respecting  woman  will  want  to  be  the 
author  of  her  own  income  —  when  no  girl  will  marry  until 
she  is." 

Mr.  Jones  looked  and  felt  like  the  fisherman  who  has 
gone  out  in  a  sail-boat  to  catch  the  small  edible  prizes  of 
the  sea,  and  landed  a  whale. 

"You  never  thought  that  all  out  for  yourself,"  he  growled. 
"Where  did  you  get  it,  anyhow?" 

"Last  night  I  realized  that  I  had  been  learning  uncon 
sciously  for  years,  and  remembered  everything  worth  while 
I  had  ever  heard  men  and  women  talk  about.  After  all, 
you  know,  clever  men  do  talk  to  me." 

"Clever  men  are  always  fools  about  a  pretty  face." 

He  got  up  and  moved  restlessly  about  the  large  room,  too 
full  of  furniture  for  a  man  with  big  feet,  and  long  awkward 
arms  which  he  did  not  always  remember  to  hold  close  to 
his  sides.  He  longed  for  his  punch  bag.  Ishbel  smiled  and 
looked  out  of  the  window. 

"What  in  hell's  come  over  women ?"  he  demanded..  "I 
thought  they  only  wanted  love  when  they  talked  of  happi 


ness." 


THREE   POTTERS  in 

"Oh,  you're  like  too  many  men  —  have  got  your  whole 
knowledge  of  women  from  novels.  Perhaps  you  even  read 
the  neurotic  ones  that  are  having  a  vogue  just  now. 
Wouldn't  that  be  funny  !  We  women  want  many  things 
besides  love,  we  Englishwomen,  at  least ;  for  we  belong  to 
the  most  highly  developed  nation  on  the  globe.  And  we  are 
the  daughters  of  men  as  well  as  of  women,  remember.  And 
we  have  heard  the  affairs  of  the  world  discussed  at  table 
since  we  left  the  nursery.  That  man  doesn't  realize  what 
he  has  made  of  us  is  a  proof  that  he  is  so  soaked  in  conven 
tions  and  traditions  that  he  is  in  the  same  danger  of  decay 
and  submergence  that  nations  have  been  when  too  long  a 
period  of  power  has  made  them  careless  and  flaccid  —  and 
blind.  We  want  love,  but  as  a  man  wants  it;  enough  to 
make  us  comfortable  and  happy,  but  not  to  absorb  our 
whole  lives - 

"What?"  Mr.  Jones  swung  round  upon  her,  his  little 
black  eyes  emitting  red  sparks.  "That's  the  most  immoral 
speech  I  ever  heard  a  woman  make." 

"I  shall  keep  faith  with  you,"  said  Ishbel,  carelessly. 
"Don't  worry  yourself.  I've  made  a  bargain  with  you  and 
I  shall  stick  to  it,  just  as  I  shall  be  perfectly  square  in  busi 
ness.  All  I  want  is  to  be  as  much  of  an  individual  as  you 
are,  not  an  annex." 

Mr.  Jones  had  an  inspiration  and  resumed  his  seat. 
"Look  here  ! "  he  said.  "  You  say  you  play  a  square  game, 
that  you  will  live  up  to  your  contract  with  me ;  and  mar 
riage  is  a  partnership,  by  God  !  Well  —  if  you  go  setting 
up  for  yourself,  you  injure  my  credit.  I'm  in  a  lot  of  things 
where  credit  is  everything.  Money  (actual  gold  and  silver) 
is  not  so  plentiful  as  you  think,  and  the  greatest  coward  on 
earth.  If  there  should  be  the  slightest  suspicion  that  I  was 
unsound 

"Why  should  there  be?  You  will  continue  to  live  here 
in  the  same  style,  and  I  shall  keep  my  rooms,  and  go  about 
with  you  once  or  twice  a  week  —  even  wear  some  of  your 
jewels.  What  more  could  you  ask?" 

'  What  more?"    Jones  was  purple  again.    "This:    I 


ii2  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

didn't  marry  to  be  made  a  laughing-stock  of.      Everybody'll 
say  I'm  mean  - 

"Not  if  you  set  me  up.  And  you  can  get  your  good 
friend,  The  Mart,  to  say  that  I  am  ambitious  to  set  a  new 
style  in  fads  - 

''There  are  some  statements  that  no  fool  will  swallow  — 
let  alone  sharp  business  men  in  the  City.  Fad,  indeed  - 
when  you  will  be  standing  on  your  feet  all  day  in  a  milliner 
shop  —  unless-  '  hopefully  —  "you  merely  mean  to  put 
your  name  over  the  door  to  draw  customers,  and  pocket 
the  proceeds.  That  would  be  bad  enough  —  but  - 

"By  no  means.  What  possible  satisfaction  could  I  get 
out  of  making  other  people  do  what  I  want  to  do  myself  ? 
You  might  as  well  ask  an  author  if  he  would  be  content  to 
let  some  one  else  write  his  books  so  long  as  he  had  his  name 
on  the  title  page  and  pocketed  the  profits.  The  joy  of  suc 
ceeding  must  lie  in  the  effort,  in  knowing  that  you  are  doing 
something  that  no  one  else  can  do  in  quite  the  same  way. 
I  can  be  an  artist  even  in  hats,  and  I  propose  to  be  one." 

"And  if  I  refuse  you  the  capital?" 

"Bridgit  will  lend  it  to  me." 

"I  am  to  be  blackmailed,  so  !" 

"What  is  blackmail?" 

"As  if  a  woman  need  ask  !  Every  woman  is  a  black 
mailer  by  instinct.  I  suppose  that  if  I  won't  give  you  the 
money  for  this  ridiculous  enterprise,  you  will  leave  my 
house  —  ruin  me  socially,  as  well  as  financially?" 

But  Ishbel's  wits  were  far  nimbler  than  his.  "No,"  she 
said  sweetly,  "  I  can  never  forget  that  I  owe  you  a  great  deal. 
Whether  you  advance  me  the  capital  or  not,  I  shall  continue 
to  live  here,  and  entertain  for  you  whenever  I  have  time." 

The  mere  male  was  helpless,  defeated.  A  month  later 
his  name  was  over  a  shop  in  Bond  Street,  and  the  success 
of  the  lady  whose  title  preceded  it  was  so  immediate  that 
he  began  to  brag  about  her  in  the  City.  But  he  was  by 
no  means  reconciled.  His  order  of  life,  that  new  order  in 
which  he  had  revelled  during  five  brief  years,  was  sadly 
dislocated.  Many  husbands  and  wives  are  invited  sepa- 


THREE   POTTERS  113 

ratcly  in  London  society,  but  he  made  the  bitter  discovery 
that  when  Ishbel  was  forced  to  decline  an  invitation  for 
luncheon  or  dinner  he  was  expected  to  follow  suit.  He 
could  ^valk  about  at  receptions  or  teas  if  he  chose,  but  it 
became  instantly  patent  that  no  woman,  save  those  whose 
husbands  were  in  his  power,  would  see  him  at  her  table 
when  she  could  get  out  of  it.  There  were  one  or  two  new 
millionnaires  in  society  that  had  achieved  a  full  measure  of 
personal  popularity,  and  were  sometimes  asked  without 
their  wives,  but  Jones  was  hopelessly  dull  in  conversation, 
and  had  a  way  of  "walking  up  trains,"  and  knocking 
over  delicate  objects  with  his  elbows.  And  then  he  was 
unpardonably  ugly  to  look  at ;  moreover,  evinced  no  dis 
position  to  pay  the  bills  of  any  woman  but  his  wife. 
That  was  a  fatal  oversight  on  Mr.  Jones's  part,  but  no  one 
had  ever  been  kind  enough  to  give  him  a  hint. 

All  this  was  bad  enough,  but  in  addition  he  perceived  that 
while  society  patronized  Ishbel's  shop,  and  pretended  to 
admire  or  be  amused,  they  had  respected  her  far  more  when 
she  was  reigning  as  a  beauty  and  spending  her  husband's  vast 
income  as  carelessly  as  the  spoiled  child  smashes  its  costly 
toys.  There  is  little  real  respect  where  there  is  no  envy,  and 
no  one  envies  a  working  woman  until  she  has  made  a  fortune 
and  can  retire.  Ishbel  had  dazzled  the  world  with  her  splen 
did  luck,  added  to  her  beauty  and  proud  descent.  It  had 
called  her  "a  spoiled  darling  of  fortune,"  a  " fairy  princess," 
and  such  it  had  envied  and  worshipped.  But  she  had 
stepped  down  fr,om  her  pedestal ;  her  halo  had  fallen  off ; 
she  was  no  longer  a  member  of  the  leisured  class,  haughty 
and  privileged  even  when  up  to  its  neck  in  debt.  Mr. 
Jones's  position  in  the  City  was  not  affected,  for  men  knew 
him  too  well,  but  society  suspected  that  his  fortune  was  not 
what  it  had  been,  and  that  his  wife  wanted  more  money 
to  spend,  or  was  providing  against  a  rainy  day.  If  neither 
suspicion  was  true,  then  she  was  disloyal  to  her  class,  and 
a  menace,  a  horrid  example.  Her  personal  popularity  was 
unaffected,  but  her  position  was  not  what  it  was,  no  doubt 
of  that,  and  the  soul  of  Mr.  Jones  was  exceeding  bitter, 
i 


XII 

LORD  ROSEBERY'S  government,  despite  the  duke's  op 
timistic  predictions,  did  not  resign  until  June  24,  conse 
quently  the  general  election  was  not  fought  until  July,  and 
during  all  this  time  Julia  was  kept  at  Bosquith ;  France, 
wholly  amiable  to  his  cousin's  wishes,  stuck  close  to  his 
borough.  He  had  not  a  political  dogma,  cared  no  more  for 
the  Conservatives  and  Liberal-Unionists,  than  for  National 
ists,  Liberals,  Radicals,  and  Socialists,  and  he  had  no  inten 
tion  of  boring  himself  in  Westminster  save  when  his  cousin 
required  his  vote.  But  he  had  planned  a  very  definite  and 
pleasant  scheme  of  life,  and  the  enthusiastic  favor  of  the 
head  of  his  house  was  essential  to  its  success.  He  intended 
to  re-let  his  own  place  in  Hertfordshire,  and  live  with  the 
duke,  both  in  London  and  in  the  country,  until  such  time 
as  his  patience  should  be  rewarded  and  the  divine  law  of 
entail  give  him  his  own.  He  not  only  craved  the  luxury  of 
the  duke's  great  establishments  (as  English  people  under 
stand  luxury),  but,  quite  aware  of  the  position  he  had  for 
feited  among  men,  he  was  determined  to  win  it  back.  Not 
that  he  felt  any  symptoms  of  regeneration,  but  the  pride, 
which  heretofore  had  raised  him  above  public  opinion, 
assumed  a  new  form  during  his  long  convalescence,  and 
prompted  respectability  and  enjoyment  of  the  social  posi 
tion  he  had  inherited. 

His  cousin,  although  knowing  vaguely  that  his  heir  had 
been  "a  bit  wild,"  and  not  as  popular  as  he  might  be,  was 
far  too  unsophisticated  to  guess  the  truth,  and  too  sur 
rounded  by  flatterers  and  toadies  to  hear  what  would  mani 
festly  displease  him.  Moreover,  although  France  was  under 
such  strong  suspicion  of  card  cheating  that  no  man  would 
play  with  him,  he  had  proved  himself  too  clever  to  be 
caught,  therefore  had  escaped  an  open  scandal.  He  had 

114 


THREE   POTTERS  115 

twice  avoided  being  co-respondent  in  divorce  suits,  once 
by  shifting  the  burden  on  to  the  shoulders  of  a  fellow-sinner, 
and  once  by  securing,  through  a  detective  agency,  such  in 
formation  that  the  wronged  husband  let  the  matter  drop 
rather  than  suffer  a  counter-suit.  But  society  was  not  his 
preserve.  He  was  a  man  who  had  haunted  byways  where 
women  were  unprotected,  and  far  from  the  limelight;  and 
although  there  had  been  for  twenty  years  the  contemptuous 
impression  that  he  was  one  of  the  greatest  blackguards  in 
Europe,  that  there  was  no  villainy  to  which  he  had  not 
stooped,  he  was,  after  all,  little  discussed,  for  he  was  much 
out  of  England,  and,  when  off  duty,  went  to  Paris  for  his 
pleasures. 

But  although  he  had  rather  revelled  in  his  dark  reputa 
tion,  he  had  now  undergone  a  change  of  mind  if  not  of 
heart.  He  had  had  a  long  draught  of  respectability,  and  of 
deference  from  his  future  menials  and  the  several  thousand 
good  men  in  his  constituency  who  had  never  heard  of  him 
before  he  came  to  Bttsquith,  as  the  convalescent  heir  of 
their  popular  duke,  and  won  them  by  looking  "every  inch 
a  man" ;  he  had  a  young  and  beautiful  wife  with  whom  he 
was  as  much  in  love  as  was  in  him  to  love  any  one  but  him 
self,  and  in  whom  he  recognized  a  valuable  aid  to  his  plan 
of  social  rehabilitation.  Established  in  London  as  hostess 
of  one  of  its  oldest  and  most  exclusive  private  palaces,  with 
every  opportunity  to  exercise  her  youthful  charm  (like  the 
duke  he  despised  brains  in  women),  she  would  take  but  one 
season  to  draw  about  her  a  court  anxious  to  stand  well  with 
the  future  Duchess  of  Kingsborough.  And  he  was  her 
husband.  They  could  not  ignore  him  if  they  would  ;  and 
they  would  have  less  and  less  inclination,  viewing  him  daily 
as  a  man  ostentatioulsy  devoted  to  his  wife,  taking  his  par 
liamentary  duties  very  seriously  indeed  (he  knew  exactly  the 
right  phrases  to  get  off),  and  living  a  life  so  exemplar)'  and 
regular  that  his  past  would  be  dismissed  with  a  good- 
natured  smile  (for  was  he  not  a  future  duke?),  or  openly 
doubted  for  want  of  proof.  He  knew  that  some  peopK- 
would  never  speak  to  him,  others  never  invite  him  to  their 


n6  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

tables,  although  he  might,  with  his  wife  and  cousin,  receive 
a  card  to  their  receptions ;  but,  then,  London  society  was 
very  large,  and  he  could  endure  the  contempt  of  the  few 
in  the  complaisance  of  the  many. 

His  first  quarry  was  the  duke,  already  disposed  to  like 
him  extremely,  as  they  were  the  last  males  of  their  race,  and 
latterly  quite  softened  by  certain  sympathies  and  anxi 
eties  for  his  afflicted  relative  that  had  never  infused  his  dry 
smug  nature  before.  He  was  also  one  of  those  survivals 
that  like  anecdotes,  and  France,  in  his  wandering  life,  had 
insensibly  collected  an  infinite  number.  Naturally  the 
most  silent  of  men,  he  now  made  himself  so  agreeable  that 
the  duke,  long  companionless,  himself  suggested  the  perma 
nent  residence  of  the  Frances  under  his  several  roofs,  over 
rode  all  his  cousin's- manly  objections,  and  looked  forward 
to  a  revival  of  the  historic  splendors  of  Kingsborough 
House  with  something  like  enthusiasm.  France  cemented 
the  new  bond  when  he  appeared,  as  soon  as  his  convales 
cence  was  over,  at  morning  prayers,  and  even  compelled  the 
attendance  of  the  rebellious  Julia. 

This  alien  in  the  great  house  of  France  detested  family 
prayers.  They  were  very  long,  the  duke's  dull  languid 
gaze  travelled  over  his  shoulder  every  time  she  sat  when 
she  should  have  knelt,  and  they  came  at  an  hour  when  she 
wanted  to  be  on  the  moor  or  riding  along  the  cliffs.  But 
when  she  openly  expressed  herself,  her  husband,  although 
he  picked  her  up  and  kissed  her  many  times,  unobservant 
that  she  wriggled,  replied  peremptorily :  - 

"Not  another  word,  my  little  beauty.  •  To  prayers  you 
must  go.  It's  a  rotten  bore,  but  it's  the  duty  of  a  wife  to 
advance  her  husband's  interests.  Get  our  mighty  cousin 
down  on  us,  and  we  live  in  Hertfordshire  all  the  year 
round." 

Although  she  hid  the  thought,  Julia  would  have  sub 
mitted  to  more  than  prayers  to  avoid  living  alone  in  a  small 
house  in  the  country  with  her  husband.  She  had  heard 
so  much  of  duty  during  the  last  year  (even  her  mother's 
letters  were  full  of  it),  that  she  had  set  her  teeth  in  the  face 


THREE   POTTERS  117 

of  matrimony,  persuaded  herself  that  France  was  no  more 
offensive  than  other  husbands,  that  hers  was  the  common 
lot  of  woman,  and,  after  reading  Nigel's  book,  that  she  was 
singularly  fortunate  in  not  having  been  born  in  the  slums. 
But  although  she  refused  to  admit  to  her  consciousness  a 
certain  terrified  mumbling  in  the  depths  of  her  brain,  she 
did  acknowledge  that  she  no  longer  had  the  least  desire  for 
a  child,  and  that  she  hated  the  scent  of  the  pomade  on  her 
husband's  moustache.  It  was  a  pomade  that  had  been 
fashionable  for  several  years,  and  was  used  as  sparingly  as 
possible  on  France's  bristles;  but  lesser  trifles  have  killed 
love  in  women,  and  Julia,  frankly  unloving,  conceived  an 
unconquerable  aversion  for  this  sickly  scent;  to  this  day 
it  rises  in  her  memory  as  associated  with  the  abominable 
injustice  that  had  been  committed  on  her  youth. 

But  she  kept  her  mind  and  time  fully  occupied.  She 
visited  the  sick,  rode  her  good  horse,  and  read  until  there 
was  nothing  left  in  the  Bosquith  library  to  satisfy  her  still 
insatiable  mind.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  she  realized  that 
she  had  not  a  penny  in  her  purse,  had  not  had  since  her 
first  few  weeks  in  London.  She  made  out  a  list  of  books 
she  wanted,  surmounted  her  diffidence,  and  asked  her  hus 
band  if  she  might  order  them  from  London.  France,  when 
she  approached  him,  was  smoking  a  pipe  by  the  library  fire, 
his  cannon-ball  head  sunken  luxuriously  into  the  cushions 
of  the  chair,  and  his  glassy  eyes  half  closed.  He  pulled  her 
down  on  his  knee  and  read  the  list,  then  laughed  aloud  and 
pinched  her  ear. 

"Never  heard  of  one  of  these  books,  but  they  have  an 
expensive  look  —  wager  not  one  of  them  costs  under  a 
pound.  That  would  mean  about  ten  pounds  —  by  Gad  ! 
That  would  never  do.  I'm  economizing  and  you  must,  too; 
for  although  we  shall  live  with  Kingsborough,  we  can't  ex 
pect  him  to  pay  for  our  clothes  and  all  the  rest  of  it.  Be 
sides,  I  don't  want  an  intellectual  wife  —  had  no  idea  you 
read  such  bally  rot.  Intellectual  wives  are  bores,  get  red 
noses,  and  rims  round  their  eyes.  Jove !  Think  of  those 
eyes  gettin'  red  and  dim.  I'd  make  a  bonfire  of  all  the 


n8  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

books  in  England  first.  No,  my  lady,  it's  your  business  to 
look  pretty,  and  to  remember  a  famous  saying  of  our  future 
king:  'Bright  women,  yes;  but  no  damned  intellect.'  We 
want  to  have  a  rippin'  time  as  soon  as  Salisbury  is  in  again, 
and  I  won't  have  you  frightenin'  people  off." 

"I  never  supposed  you  would  care  so  much  for  society," 
said  Julia,  lamely.  "I  always  think  of  you  as  a  sailor." 

"I  want  what'll  be  mine  before  long  —  what  I've  been 
kept  out  of  long  enough,"  he  answered  savagely. 

Julia  was  shocked.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had  betrayed 
himself,  so  anxious  had  he  been  for  her  good  opinion,  so 
careful  not  to  excite  himself  with  tempers  until  his  heart 
was  quite  strong  again.  As  she  left  his  knee  and  turned 
her  disconcerting  eyes  on  him,  he  recovered  himself  with  a 
laugh. 

"I  believe  it's  all  your  mother's  fault.  She  told  me  it 
was  your  fate  —  by  all  the  stars  !  —  to  be  a  duchess,  and 
I  don't  think  I've  got  it  out  of  my  head  since.  But  you 
know  I'm  devilish  fond  of  my  cousin  —  only  one  I've  got, 
for  those  old  hags  don't  count.  I'll  chuck  such  ideas, 
and-  '  his  voice  became  sonorous  with  virtue  —  " think 
only  of  his  kindness  and  of  serving  my  country  when  my 
time  comes." 

The  time  came  in  July,  and  he  carried  his  borough  almost 
without  effort,  so  irresistible  was  the  conservative  reaction. 
He  was  not  much  of  an  orator,  but  not  much  was  required 
of  him.  He  made. a  fine  appearance  on  a  platform,  and 
when,  after  a  flattering  introduction  by  the  chairman,  he 
stood  up  before  a  sympathetic  audience,  and  between  some 
scraps  of  party  wisdom,  furnished  by  the  duke,  doubled  up 
his  aristocratic  hand  and  wedged  it  firmly  into  his  manly 
thigh,  and  brought  out  in  all  its  inflections:  " Indeed,  I 
may  say-  Indeed,  /  may  say-  Indeed,  I  may  say  — 
Indeed  I  may  say  !"  the  applause  was  stupendous. 

Julia,  sitting  behind  him  with  the  duke,  had  much  ado 
not  to  laugh  aloud,  but,  then,  Julia  was  an  alien,  and  had  no 
appreciation  of  gentlemen's  oratory. 

She  had  taken  more  interest  in  the  wives  of  the  voters, 


THREE   POTTERS  119 

and  been  relieved  to  find  that  their  poverty  was  rather 
picturesque  than  bitter  —  Nigel's  book  had  given  her  a  pro 
found  shock  —  but  had  wept  at  some  of  the  tales  told  by 
women  that  had  relatives  in  London  and  the  great  manu 
facturing  towns  of  the  north.  After  France's  final  triumph, 
when  he  had  been  carried  back  to  Bosquith  on  the  shoulders 
of  several  honest  yeomen,  followed  by  a  cheering  mob  of 
several  hundred  more,  she  asked  him  impulsively  (being 
electrified  herself  for  the  moment)  if  he  might  not  serve 
his  country  best  by  making  a  crusade  against  poverty. 
But  he  looked  at  her  in  such  genuine  bewilderment  that  she 
dropped  the  subject. 


XIII 

To  France's  intense  disgust  Parliament  met  on  August 
12,  that  consecrated  date  when  grouse  are  first  hunted  from 
their  lairs.  There  was  nothing  for  it,  however,  but  to  go 
up  to  London  with  the  triumphant  duke  and  sit  on  a  bench 
through  at  least  one  hot  hour  each  day.  The  rest  of  his 
hours  he  spent  at  his  club,  to  avoid  meeting  his  patriotic 
relative,  and  Julia,  for  the  first  time,  found  herself  possessed 
of  a  certain  measure  of  liberty.  To  be  sure,  she  was  sev 
eral  times  caged  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  once  slept 
above  the  peers,  but  for  the  most  part  she  was  left  to  her 
self,  the  duke  almost  forgetting  her  in  the  joy  of  his  occa 
sional  chats  in  the  lobby  with  Lord  Salisbury,  and  the  ex 
citements  provided  by  Mr.  Chamberlain.  He  had  neither 
hope  nor  wish  for  the  onerous  duties  of  a  cabinet  minister, 
but  for  many  years  politics  had  formed  the  only  excite 
ment  of  his  rather  colorless  life ;  whether  his  party  were  in 
or  out,  he  always  managed  to  be  of  some  slight  use  to  it  in 
the  upper  House.  He  was  laughed  at  sometimes  by  the 
giants  of  his  party,  but  on  the  whole  regarded  as  a  safe 
reliable  man,  and  received  doles  of  flattery  to  keep  his 
enthusiasm  alive. 

Everybody  was  out  of  town  except  Ishbel,  who  was  cast 
ing  nets  for  the  rich  tourists,  and  Julia  sat  for  hours  in  the 
gay  little  shop  on  the  second  floor  of  an  old  building  in 
Bond  Street,  watching  her  friend  with  wide  admiring  eyes, 
and  even  envying  her  a  little.  This,  however,  she  sup 
pressed.  She  was  to  be  a  duchess,  and  that  was  the  end  of 
it.  She  would  fill  her  high  destiny  to  the  best  of  her  ability, 
but  she  wished  that  meanwhile  she  could  earn  a  little  money, 
or  some  unknown  relative  would  leave  her  a  legacy.  France 
was  still  " economizing"  and  gave  her  no  allowance;  she 
literally  had  not  money  for  cab  fare.  She  was  determined, 
however,  never  to  ask  him  for  money  again,  so  deep  had 

120 


THREE    POTTERS  121 

been  her  mortification  when  he  had  refused  her  simple  re 
quest  for  books. 

Parliament  remained  in  session  something  over  a  month, 
being  prorogued  on  September  15.  The  duke  returned  to 
Bosquith  for  the  rest  of  the  grouse  season,  opened  his  house 
in  Derbyshire  for  the  pheasant  shooting,  and  went  again 
to  Bosquith  for  partridges  and  hunting.  This  time  there 
were  guests.  Many  of  them  were  carefully  selected  from 
the  most  ardent  supporters  of  the  present  Government'; 
but  Mrs.  Winstone,  who,  deeply  to  her  satisfaction,  was 
invited  to  coach  and  assist  the  young  chatelaine,  was  per 
mitted  to  invite  "a  few  younger  people,  but  no  really  young 
people."  The  duke  was  alive  to  the  necessity  of  maturing 
his  heir's  wife  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The  company  was 
always  an  extremely  distinguished  one,  as  Mrs.  Winstone 
took  pains  to  impress  upon  the  somewhat  indifferent  Julia ; 
not  the  least  exalted  members  of  the  Government  honored 
the  various  parties,  and  a  good  many  of  the  younger  men 
accepted  invitations  which  would  force  them  into  association 
with  Harold  France,  partly  to  please  Mrs.  Winstone,  partly 
put  of  curiosity,  and  principally  because  the  duke's  shoot 
ings,  always  kept  up  but  seldom  placed  at  the  service  of 
guests,  were  famous.  Julia,  alive  to  her  responsibilities, 
set  her  mind  upon  becoming  an  accomplished  hostess,  and 
although  the  everlasting  talk  of  politics  and  sport  bored  her, 
she  was  rewarded  with  a  few  pleasant  acquaintances,  who 
in  a  measure  consoled  her  for  the  temporary  loss  of  Bridgit 
and  Ishbel. 

There  was  a  fine  old  Jacobean  mansion  on  the  estate  in 
Derbyshire,  and  Julia  reminded  herself  that  she  was  realizing 
a  youthful  dream,  admired  the  brilliant  appearance  of  the 
women  at  dinner,  and  went  occasionally  to  the  coverts. 
But  the  immense  beautiful  house  had  the  more  notable 
attraction  of  a  fine  library,  and  Julia's  happiness  was  further 
increased  from  October  until  the  middle  of  February  by 
the  fact  that  she  saw  less  of  her  husband  than  formerly. 
No  more  ardent  sportsman  breathed;  he  couJd  kill  all  day, 
and  when  he  came  home  at  night  was  agreeably  fatigued 


122  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

and  ready  for  sleep.  He  was  as  much  in  love  as  ever,  but  it 
was  long  since  he  had  been  able  to  command  all  the  pleasures 
of  his  class,  and  he  meant  to  enjoy  every  good  that  came  his 
way  to  the  last  nibble.  No  more  methodical  soul  ever 
lived.  Julia  sometimes  wondered  if  he  were  not  a  creature 
manufactured  and  wound  up,  like  Frankenstein,  rather  than 
man  born  of  woman,  but  it  was  long  before  she  found 
the  clew  to  his  character. 

When  they  returned  to  Bosquith,  Julia  had  even  more 
freedom  than  during  the  weeks  devoted  to  the  puncturing  of 
grouse  and  pheasant.  The  women  had  joined  the  men  for 
luncheon  during  the  grouse  season,  tramping  the  moors 
in  very  short  skirts  and  very  thick  boots;  and  in  Derby 
shire,  the  coverts  not  being  too  far  from  the  house,  the 
men  had  returned  for  their  midday  meal.  But  the  farms, 
with  their  turnip  fields,  were  many  miles  from  the  moors 
which  surrounded  the  castle  of  Bosquith;  the  women 
showed  less  enthusiasm ;  and  it  was  out  of  the  question  for 
the  men  to  return,  even  in  a  break,  for  luncheon.  Therefore, 
did  the  women,  including  Mrs.  Winstone,  sleep  late,  and 
Julia  found  the  morning  hours  her  own.  She  enjoyed  her 
freedom  at  first  in  long  rides  alone,  and  with  no  particular 
object,  but  in  the  course  of  a  week  she  accidentally  made 
the  acquaintance  of  one  of  the  tenants,  Mr.  Leggins  (the 
sportsmen  had  exhausted  his  field  and  moved  on),  and  she 
found  his  somewhat  radical  discourse  refreshing  after  the 
undiluted  and  therefore  unargumentative  conservatism 
of  the  castle's  guests.  Mr.  Leggins,  indeed,  when  the 
intimacy  had  progressed,  did  not  hesitate  to  express  him 
self  on  the  injustice  of  annually  sacrificing  his  best  fields 
to  the  sporting  pride  of  hereditary  lords  of  the  soil.  One 
argument  in  England  against  giving  women  the  vote  is 
that  they  are  all  conservatives  at  heart,  but  Julia,  at  least, 
seated  under  the  mighty  beams  of  the  old  farm-house,  with 
a  bowl  of  bread  and  milk  before  her,  listening  to  the  old  man 
inveigh  against  the  iniquity  of  laws  that  forced  a  family 
like  his  own  to  pay  rent  from  generation  to  generation,  a 
rent  which  increased  with  every  improvement  made  by  the 


THREE   POTTERS  123 

tenant,  instead  of  being  permitted  to  buy  their  land  and 
feel  "as  good  as  the  next  man,"  assumed  that  there  was 
something  wrong  with  the  world,  and  often  wondered  if 
she  were  not  in  the  sixteenth  century,  when  the  farm-house 
had  been  built;  wondered  still  more  why  the  world  pro 
gressed  so  rapidly  in  some  things  and  remained  stationary 
in  others.  Mr.  Leggins,  in  those  early  morning  hours, 
told  her  something  of  Socialism,  and  she  began  to  have 
grave  doubts  if  she  should  ever  become  a  duchess,  if  those 
Jagging  millions  would  not  suddenly  awaken  and  come  to 
the  front  with  a  bound. 

But  these  grave  questions  agitated  her  fleetingly  at 
this  period,  for  there  were  other  attractions  at  the  Leggins 
farm.  It  embraced  a  famous  ruin,  and  the  farmer  kept  a 
small  public  house  of  "soft  drinks"  for  its  many  visitors. 
This  was  Julia's  first  glimpse  of  the  genus  tourist,  and  its 
very  difference  from  the  guests  at  the  castle  entranced  her. 
She  often  spent  the  entire  morning  watching  and  often 
talking  to  strange  people  with  frank  inquisitive  eyes  and  an 
amazing  thoroughness  in  exploration.  Many  had  accents 
undreamed  of  in  her  short  sojourn  on  this  planet.  Mr. 
Leggins  called  them  "Americans,"  and  Julia  sunned  her 
self  in  their  breezy  democracy,  and  resolved  to  read 
their  history  as  soon  as  she  returned  to  London  and  its 
public  libraries ;  no  recognition  of  their  existence  was  to  be 
found  at  Bosquith.  Julia  had  seen  several  Americans  in 
Isabel's  shop,  but  they  had  been  so  very  elegant,  and  such 
good  imitations  of  the  British  grande  dame,  that  they  had 
not  impressed  her. 

These  short-skirted,  "shirt-waisted"  people,  with  flying 
veils  —  generally  blue  —  attached  precisely  or  rakishly 
to  hats,  sailor  or  alpine,  with  faces,  more  often  than  not, 
gay  and  careless,  but  sometimes  with  an  anxious  line  be 
tween  the  brows  as  if  fearful  they  might  "  miss  something  " 
while  photographing  even  the  diamond  panes  of  the  farm 
house  windows,  thrilled  Julia  with  the  sense  of  a  new  world 
to  discover,  of  a  country  which  must  be  divinely  free  since 
it  once  had  snapped  its  fingers  in  mighty  England's  face, 


124  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

and  now  elected  a  President  every  four  years  (this  much  Mr. 
Leggins  had  told  her),  and  gave  its  humblest  man  a  vote. 
Of  the  peculiar  tyrannies  which  have  grown  up  under  the  Con 
stitution  of  the  United  States  (tyrannies  impossible  under  an 
autocracy)  Julia,  of  course,  knew  nothing ;  and  although  she 
had  no  cause  to  complain  of  monarchical  tyranny  in  Great 
Britain,  she  was  beginning  to  feel  the  stirrings  of  a  dim  resent 
ment  against  the  insignificance  of  her  own  estate.  Not  only 
had  Ishbel  talked  to  her  a  good  deal  during  the  short  session 
of  Parliament,  but  she  observed  for  herself  that  the  duke's 
house  parties  were  organized  with  pointed  reference  to  the 
pleasure  and  comfort  of  the  male  sex.  The  men  were  given 
the  best  rooms,  the  board  was  set  with  the  heavy  food 
necessary  to  the  replenishment  of  their  energies,  they  shot 
all  day  long,  barely  opening  their  mouths  to  speak  at  table, 
and  often  went  to  bed  immediately  after  dinner.  The 
women  were  invited  merely  to  ornament  the  table  and  make 
the  men  forget  their  fatigue,  or  to  amuse  them  if  they  felt 
inclined  now  and  then  to  vary  sport  with  flirtation.  For 
these  heroic  ladies  not  one  amusement  during  the  shooting 
season  was  designed ;  of  course  they  would  hunt  later.  No 
men  were  asked  save  those  that  shot.  Even  "old  Pirie," 
and  Lord  Algy  went  out  with  the  guns.  Julia  wondered 
why  these  women  came,  and  finally  concluded  that  some 
came  in  search  of  husbands  or  lovers,  others  to  keep  an 
eye  on  husbands  or  lovers.  Some,  no  doubt,  enjoyed  the 
rest  at  no  expense  to  themselves,  but  all  were  frankly 
bored.  Now  and  again  Julia,  at  tea  time,  heard  a  woman 
discourse  upon  the  happy  fate  of  the  American  woman, 
who  had  "things  all  her  own  way,"  and  to  whom  man  was  a 
slave.  Listening  to  the  animated  babble  about  the  table 
in  Farmer  Leggins's  living  room,  where  the  Americans 
imbibed  milk,  bottled  lemon-squash,  and  sarsaparilla,  Julia 
longed  to  ask  the  prettiest  of  them  if  they  were  spoiled 
wives.  France  professed  to  adore  her  madly,  but  he 
neither  petted  nor  spoiled  her.  She  was  his  prize  exhibit,  his 
woman,  his  harem  of  one,  and  he  was  immensely  satisfied 
with  his  discrimination  and  his  luck.  He  never  even  asked 


THREE   POTTERS  125 

her  if  she  were  content,  if  she  were  bored.  What  liberty  she 
had  she  was  forced  to  scheme  for,  like  these  visits  to  the 
fascinating  public  house  of  Farmer  Leggins.  Had  the 
duke  or  even  Mrs.  Winstone  seen  her  sitting  at  that  table, 
sometimes  cutting  bread,  always  talking  to  people  she 
had  never  seen  before  and  never  would  see  again,  they  would 
have  been  outraged ;  and,  no  doubt,  as  the  times  were  too 
advanced  to  shut  her  up,  she  would  have  been  compelled 
to  ride  with  a  groom,  and  give  her  word  to  ignore  farm 
houses  (save  when  votes  were  wanted),  and  to  speak  to  no 
one  to  whom  she  had  not  properly  been  introduced.  But  all 
three  of  her  guardians  were  happily  ignorant  of  her  per 
formances,  and  no  mortal  ever  enjoyed  her  liberty  more, 
or  took  a  naughtier  delight  in  it. 

One  morning  she  was  sitting  beside  Farmer  Leggins  un 
corking  bottles  and  ladling  out  milk  (his  son  Sam's  wife, 
who  kept  house  for  him,  was  away),  when  three  people 
alighted  from  a  carriage  who  interested  her  immediately. 
Not  only  were  the  woman  and  the  young  girl,  and  even  the 
boy,  dressed  more  smartly  than  was  common  to  the  tourist 
in  that  part  of  the  country,  but  they  suddenly  ducked  their 
heads  in  a  peculiar  way,  and  entered  the  farm-house  hat  first. 
The  rest  of  the  room  was  occupied  by  a  party  of  school 
teachers,  who  invariably  wear  out  their  old  clothes  in 
Europe,  and  Julia  gave  the  newcomers  her  undivided 
attention.  Mr.  Leggins  also  rose  with  some  alacrity,  and 
placed  them  at  a  small  table  by  themselves,  waiting  until 
their  pleasant  voices  assured  him  that  they  had  all  their 
appetites  demanded. 

"They're  Californians,"  whispered  Mr.  Leggins,  as  he 
returned  to  Julia's  side.  (As  the  reader  is  now  acquainted 
with  every  known  dialect,  it  is  not  necessary  to  torment 
him  with  the  Yorkshire.)  "San  Franciscans,  to  be  exact.  I 
always  can  tell  them  by  the  way  they  put  their  heads  down 
in  a  breeze  —  wind  always  blows  in  San  Francisco,  and  it's 
second  nature  to  butt  against  it.  I  know  the  earmarks 
of  every  state  in  their  union  —  section,  at  least  —  and  not 
only  by  their  accents.  You  can  know  a  Californian  because 


126  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

he  hasn't  any,  but  the  others  would  butter  bread,  except 
when  they  happen  to  have  had  brass  long  enough  to  rub  it  off 
in  Europe.  Even  then  they  keep  a  bit  of  it.  But  I  know 
them  by  other  things.  This  party  of  school  missuses  is 
from  what  they  call  '  the  East ' ;  they've  every  one  got 
suspicion  in  their  eyes,  and  are  that  close !  It's  a  wonder 
they  don't  bring  scales  to  weigh  my  bread.  The  'Middle 
West'  people  are  like  children,  pleased  with  everything, 
and  crazy  about  ruins;  free  with  the  brass,  too.  The 
1  Southerners '  look  as  if  they  ought  to  be  rich  and  ain't,  but 
never  haggle.  The  high-toned  'Easterners,'  haven't  an 
exclamation  point  among  them,  are  so  polite  they  make 
you  feel  like  dirt,  pay  with  gold  and  count  the  change. 
Where  on  earth  is  Sam?  " 

Sam  had  disappeared  shortly  after  showing  the  school 
teachers  over  the  ruin,  and  the  Californians  had  risen, 
manifestly  awaiting  a  guide. 

Sam  (who  occasionally  stole  away  to  watch  the  shooting) 
was  not  to  be  found.  Julia  volunteered  to  show  the  party 
over  the  ruin. 

''I'd  be  that  grateful !"  exclaimed  Mr.  Leggins;  and  to 
the  Californians,  "There  ain't  much  to  the  ruin,  and  she 
knows  it  as  well  as  Sam." 

The  lady  looked  at  her  curiously,  for  the  guide  wore  her 
habit,  and  manifestly  was  not  of  the  house  of  Leggins,  b*ut 
she  expressed  herself  satisfied,  and  followed  Julia  across 
the  bridge  that  spanned  the  ditch.  The  young  girl  was 
too  weary  with  much  travel  for  interest  in  anything,  but 
the  youth  had  already  fallen  a  victim  to  Julia's  charms, 
and  manoeuvred  to  reach  her  side.  He  was  a  fine-looking 
lad,  tall  for  his  years,  which  might  have  been  fifteen,  with 
a  shock  of  black  hair,  keen  black-gray  eyes,  and  a  dark 
strongly  made  face.  It  was  a  new-world  face,  with  some 
thing  of  the  pioneer,  something  of  the  Indian  in  it,  but, 
oddly  enough,  almost  aggressively  modern.  Julia  had 
observed  him  under  her  lashes,  and  wished  he  were  older. 
Few  men  tourists  came  that  way,  and  this  boy  was  of  a  more 
marked  type  than  any  of  them. 


THREE   POTTERS  127 

"My,  but  this  is  bully! "'he  exclaimed.  "You  won't 
mind  my  saying  it,  but  I've  been  watching  you  for  half  an 
hour  —  couldn't  eat  —  but  —  well  —  I  never  saw  a  prettier 
girl  even  in  California." 

"Then  you  are  a  Californian  ? "  asked  Julia,  much 
amused.  "And  a  San  Franciscan?" 

"Now,  how  can  you  tell  that?" 

"Mr.  Leggins  says  you  all  hold  your  heads  forward  on 
account  of  the  winds  —  to  keep  your  hats  on,  I  suppose." 

"  Jiminy,  that's  clever  !  Fancy  an  English  farmer  having 
sense  enough  for  that.  Ours  are  pretty  stupid  —  perhaps 
because  they  live  so  far  apart.  This  whole  island  isn't  as 
big  as  the  state  of  California." 

"You  don't  mean  it,"  gasped  Julia,  not  in  the  least 
resenting  this  characteristic  boast. 

"And  there  are  real  forests  in  it  —  primeval."  The 
youth  was  delighted  with  the  impression  he  had  made.  "  Not 
woods  that  you  can  see  the  horizon  from  the  middle  of. 
Great  Scott !  this  island  is  cut  up.  You  can't  get  rid  of  the 
towns,  except  on  these  big  estates.  Why,  in  the  manufactur 
ing  districts  they  tail  into  one  another.  In  California  - 

"Dan!"  said  a  reproving  voice  from  the  rear.  "Stop 
bragging.  This  is  my  brother's  first  visit  to  Europe," 
added  the  lady,  with  a  smile.  "  And  like  all  Americans  in 
similar  circumstances,  he  observes  only  to  contrast  and 
deprecate.  He'll  behave  much  better  on  his  next  visit. 
That  first  protest  is  only  defiance,  anyhow  —  to  still  the 
small  voice  which  tells  us  how  new  and  crude  we  are  in  the 
face  of  all  this  antiquity  and  beauty." 

"Oh!"  said  Julia,  smiling.  "I  fancy  that  if  I  visited 
your  country,  I  should  be  too  awed  even  to  feel  my  own 
littleness." 

"That  is  the  prettiest  speech  I  ever  heard  !"  The  lady 
extended  her  hand.  "Won't  you  tell  me  your  name? 
Mine  is  Bode,  and  this  is  my  sister,  Emily  Tay,  and  my 
brother,  Daniel  Tay." 

"I  am   Mrs.    France.     It  is  delightful   to  know  your 


128  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"Mrs.!"  gasped  the  boy,  his  face  falling  until  he  looked 
almost  idotic ;  but  Mrs.  Bode's  eyes  sparkled. 

"Not  of  Bosquith  ?"  she  asked. 

Julia  nodded  gloomily. 

"I  have  met  Mrs.  Winstone,  and  last  summer  I  read  all 
about  you  when  your  husband  was  so  ill." 

"  Read  about  me  ?  "  Julia's  mouth  opened  almost  as  wide 
as  young  Tay 's.  "Where ? " 

"Oh,  our  correspondents  don't  let  us  miss  anything,  and 
that  was  a  big  plum  for  the  end  of  the  season.  I  know  all 
about  your  romantic  marriage,  and  your  still  more  romantic 
West  Indian  home."  She  had  bred  herself  too  carefully 
to  add,  "and  that  you  will  one  day  be  a  duchess";  but 
the  words  danced  through  her  mind,  and  she  felt  that  she 
was  having  an  adventure.  Julia  was  in  no  condition 
to  notice  any  faux  pas;  her  imagination  was  visualizing 
her  insignificant  self  in  the  columns  of  a  newspaper  seven 
thousand  miles  away,  and  she  felt  a  strange  thrill,  such  as 
what  small  deferences  she  had  received  from  servants  and 
toadies  had  never  excited  in  her:  the  first  vague  pricking 
of  ambition. 

"There  was  a  picture  of  you  in  the  Sunday  supplement 
of  one  of  the  papers,"  went  on  Mrs.  Bode.  "Of  course  I 
guessed  it  wasn't  you  —  looked  suspiciously  like  one  of  our 
own  belles  touched  up  - 

"My  picture!     I've  never  had  my  picture  taken." 

"The  more  pity,"  said  Mrs.  Bode,  with  gracious  gayety. 
"I  should  beg  for  one  as  a  souvenir,  if  you  had." 

"Gee  whiz!  My  camera!"  cried  young  Tay,  recover 
ing  himself,  and  whipping  the  camera  off  his  shoulder. 
"Will  —  would  you  stand  ?" 

"Of  course!"  Julia  not  only  had  fallen  in  love  with 
her  new  friends,  but  rejoiced  in  doing  something  which 
she  instinctively  knew  would  annoy  her  husband.  When 
woman's  ego  is  fumbling,  it  is  only  in  these  world-old  acts 
of  petty  and  secret  vengeance  that  it  triumphs  for  a  moment 
over  the  sex  that  has  bruised  it. 

She  posed,  with  and  without  her  hat,  against  the  gray 


THREE   POTTERS  129 

walls  of  the  ruin,  in  a  group  with  Mrs.  Bode  and  Emily, 
and  again  with  young  Tay  alone.  Then  she  lit  her 
candle  and  led  them  down  the  winding  passage  to  the 
room  where  Mary  of  Scotland  was  supposed  to  have  slept 
on  her  way  to  Fotheringay.  As  they  emerged  once  more 
into  the  court,  she  impulsively  asked  them  to  come  that 
afternoon  to  the  castle  for  tea. 

"I  am  sure  my  aunt  will  be  enchanted  to  see  you,"  she 
added,  "and  I  can  show  you  over  Bosquith,  which  is  much 
more  interesting  than  this." 

"I'll  be  delighted,"  said  Mrs.  Bode;  and  Julia,  who  had 
experienced  a  moment  of  fright  at  her  temerity,  took 
courage  again  at  the  American's  matter-of-fact  acceptance. 
Pride  also  came  to  her  aid.  Why  should  she  not  ask  whom 
she  chose  to  Bosquith  ?  Was  she  not  its  chatelaine  ?  Her 
aunt  was  one  of  her  guests,  monitress  though  she  might 
be.  To  be  sure,  she  had  been  forbidden  to  ask  Bridgit  or 
Ishbel,  but,  then,  the  duke  had  a  personal  dislike  for  both 
-  he  now  thought  Ishbel  quite  mad  and  had  written  her 
father  a  letter  of  condolence  ;  he  was  hospitable  in  his 
way,  and  could  find  no  objection  to  these  delightful  trav 
ellers  that  knew  Mrs.  Winstone. 

She  blushed  and  stammered,  "I  must  ask  you  not  to 
say  anything  about  my  helping  Mr.  Lcggins,  and  being 
so  much  at  home  here  - 

"Of  course  not!"  Mrs.  Bode,  as  she  would  have 
expressed  it,  "twigged  instanter."  "We  met  while  ex 
ploring  the  ruins,  and  got  into  conversation." 

"You  are  so  kind.  And  you  will  come  at  five  —  no, 
four,  and  then  I  can  show  you  the  castle  before  tea." 

"We  shall  be  there  at  four.     Thank  you  so  much." 

They  parted,  mutually  delighted  with  their  morning's 
adventure,  the  ladies  going  to  their  carriage,  and  young 
Tay  gallantly  assisting  Julia  to  mount  her  horse. 

"Jiminy!"    he    whispered    ecstatically.     "You've    got 
hair  !     And  eyes  !     Stars  ain't  in  it !     Say,  I'm  awful  glad 
I'm  going  to  see  you  again,  and  I'm  awful  glad  I  can  take 
your  picture  back  to  California  with  me  !" 
I 


130  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

He  was  only  fifteen,  but  Julia  blushed  as  she  had  never 
blushed  for  Nigel.  It  may  be  that  our  future  lies  in  sealed 
cells  in  our  brains,  as  all  life  in  the  universe,  past,  present, 
future,  is  said  to  be  Now  to  the  Almighty.  Under  certain 
lightning  stabs  it  may  be  shocked  into  a  second's  premature 
awakening. 

Julia,  however,  was  annoyed  with  herself,  said  "Goodby" 
rather  crossly,  and  rode  off. 


XIV 

MRS.  BODE  was  one  of  those  astonishing  Americans 
who,  often  with  no  social  affiliations  whatever,  even  in 
their  native  city,  or  living  on  the  very  edges  of  civilization, 
have  yet  so  wide  and  accurate  a  knowledge  of  the  cardinal 
families  of  the  various  capitals  of  the  world,  that  they  would 
be  invaluable  in  the  offices  of  Burke,  Debrett,  and  the 
Almanach  de  Gotha.  Whether  this  enterprising  variety 
of  the  genus  Americana  invests  in  these  valuable  works 
of  reference,  or  merely  studies  them  in  the  public  libraries, 
ourselves  would  not  venture  to  state ;  but  that  is  beside 
the  question ;  some  highly  specialized  magnet  in  their 
brains  has  accumulated  the  knowledge,  and  less  ambitious 
Americans,  even  aristocratic  foreigners,  are  often  humbled 
by  them  when  floundering  conversationally  among  the 
ramifications  of  the  peerages  of  Europe.  These  students, 
if  New  Yorkers,  take  no  interest  in  the  "  first  families"  of 
any  state  in  the  American  Union  save  their  own,  but  if  a 
malignant  chance  has  deposited  them  on  what  stage  folk 
call  "the  road,"  then  are  their  mental  woodsheds  stored 
with  the  family  trees  of  their  own  state,  and  New  York. 
Never  of  any  other  state:  Washington  is  " too  mixed"; 
Boston  is  "  obsolete"  ;  Chicago  is  "too  new  for  any  use"; 
San  Francisco  is  too  picturesque  to  be  aristocratic;  the 
South  can  take  care  of  itself ;  and  the  rest  of  the  country, 
with  the  possible  exception  of  Philadelphia,  would  never  pre 
sume  to  enter  the  discussion. 

Nor  is  this  the  extent  of  their  knowledge.  They  can 
talk  fluently  about  all  the  great  dressmakers  and  milliners 
that  dwell  in  the  centres  of  fashion,  and  even  of  those  so 
exclusive  as  to  cater  only  to  the  best-bred  Americans,  and 
they  are  always  the  first  to  appear  in  the  new  style,  even 
though  they  have  no  place  to  show  it  but  the  street.  More- 

131 


132  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

over,  they  know  every  scandal  in  Europe,  scandals  of  aris 
tocrats  and  prime  donne,  that  no  newspaper  has  ever 
scented.  They  discuss  the  great  and  the  famous  of  the 
world  as  casually  as  their  own  acquaintance,  dropping 
titles  and  other  formalities  in  a  manner  that  bespeaks  a 
keen  and  secret  pleasure  that  the  less  gifted  or  less  ener 
getic  mortal  may  sigh  for  in  vain. 

Mrs.  Bode  came  of  good  pioneer  stock,  her  sturdy  Kansas 
grandfather,  Daniel  Tay,  having  been  among  the  first  to 
brave  the  hardships  of  the  emigrant  trail  and  make  "his 
pile"  in  California.  Not  that  he  made  it  in  one  picturesque 
moment.  He  was  only  moderately  lucky  in  the  mines. 
But  he  could  make  pies,  and  miners  were  willing  to  pay 
little  bags  of  gold-dust  for  them.  He  set  up  a  shop  for 
rough-and-ready  clothing  in  Sacramento,  with  a  pie  counter 
under  the  awning.  At  all  times  he  made  a  handsome 
income,  and  when  the  miners  came  trooping  in  drunk  and 
reckless,  he  cleaned  up  almost  as  much  as  the  gambling- 
houses. 

In  due  course,  he  migrated  to  San  Francisco,  and, 
abandoning  a  plebeian  method  of  livelihood  of  which  his 
wife  had  learned  to  disapprove,  embarked  in  a  commission 
business  including  hardware  and  groceries.  In  those  wild 
and  fluctuating  days  he  made  and  lost  several  fortunes. 
When  his  son,  Daniel  Second,  grew  up,  he  was  a  fairly 
prosperous  merchant,  with  connections  in  Central  America 
and  China.  His  coffee,  spices,  teas,  and  such  other  deli 
cacies  as  even  the  renowned  California  soil  refused  to  pro 
duce  were  the  best  on  the  market ;  and  had  it  not  been  for 
the  old  gaming  fever  in  his  blood,  which  sent  him  on  periodic 
sprees  into  the  stock-market,  he  would  have  accumulated 
a  large  fortune  and  permitted  his  wife  and  daughters  to 
assist  in  the  making  of  San  Francisco's  aristocracy.  But 
they  were  always  being  either  burned  out  or  sold  out  of 
their  fine  new  houses,  and  Mrs.  Tay  died  a  disappointed 
woman.  The  Southerners  held  the  social  fort  and  she 
had  never  crossed  its  threshold.  To  be  sure,  she  had 
washed  the  miners'  overalls  in  the  rear  of  the  Sacramento 


THREE   POTTERS  133 

store  while  the  pies  were  being  devoured  in  front,  but 
ancient  history  is  made  very  rapidly  in  California,  and 
there  were  signs  that  several  no  better  than  herself  were 
44  get  ting  their  wedge  in." 

Mr.  Tay  soon  followed  his  wife  into  the  imposing  vault 
on  Lone  Mountain,  but  not  before  adjuring  his  son  to 
"let  stocks  alone."  The  advice  was  unnecessary,  for 
Daniel  Second  was  a  shrewd  cautious  man,  immune  from 
every  temptation  the  fascinating  city  of  San  Francisco 
could  offer.  He  put  the  business  he  had  inherited  on  a 
sure  foundation,  rebuilt  modestly  whenever  he  was  burned 
out,  and  was  impervious  to  the  laments  of  his  pretty 
second  wife  that  they  were  " nobodies."  Mrs.  Tay  felt 
that  heaven  had  endowed  her  with  that  talent  most  envied 
of  women,  the  social,  but  her  husband  was  more  than 
content  to  be  a  nobody  so  long  as  his  financial  future  was 
secure ;  and  it  was  not  until  his  oldest  daughter,  Charlotte, 
-or  " Cherry"  as  she  was  fondly  called,  —  came  home 
from  boarding-school  for  the  last  time,  that  he  was  per 
suaded  to  buy  a  large  and  hideous  " residence"  with  a 
mansard  roof,  a  cupola,  and  bow-windows,  suddenly  thrown 
on  the  market  by  a  disappearing  capitalist,  and  "  splurge 
a  bit." 

The  splurging  carried  them  but  a  short  distance.  St. 
Mary's  Hall,  Benicia,  where  Cherry  had  received  the  last 
of  her  education,  was  an  aristocratic  institution,  and  she 
had  made  some  gcxxl  friends  among  the  girls.  Hut  although 
they  came  to  her  first  party,  and  she  was  asked  now  and 
again  to  large  entertainments  at  their  homes,  it  was  more 
than  patent  that  the  Tays  were  not  "in  it."  There  was 
no  reason  in  the  world  why  they  should  not  be,  for  they  were 
not  even  "impossible"  (as  the  old  folks  had  been);  but 
whether  Mrs.  Tay  was  less  gifted  socially  than  she  had 
fancied,  or  people  so  long  out  of  it  were  regarded  with 
suspicion  or  cold  indifference  by  the  venerable  holders. of 
the  social  fort,  or  Tay's  modest  fortune  was  not  worth 
while,  in  view  of  the  enormous  fortunes  that  had  been  made 
recently  in  the  railroads  and  the  Nevada  mines,  and 


134  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

"Society  was  already  large  enough,"  certain  it  is  that  Mrs. 
Tay  and  her  step-daughter  spent  long  days  in  the  library 
of  their  big  house  in  the  Western  Addition,  consoling  them 
selves  with  books  (and  who  shall  say  that  Burke  and  the 
Almanach  de  Gotha  were  not  among  them?)  or  "the 
finest  view  in  the  world." 

This  unhappy  state  of  affairs  lasted  for  two  years,  and 
then  Cherry  had  an  inspiration.  One  of  her  father's 
friends  was  the  owner  of  a  powerful  newspaper,  and 
he  had  a  friend  as  powerful  as  himself  in  the  sjate 
whence  came  the  present  Minister  to  the  Court  of  St. 
James.  Armed  with  letters  from  these  two  makers  and 
unmakers  of  reputations,  Cherry  took  her  mother  to 
London  and  requested  to  be  presented  at  court.  The 
request  was  granted,  and  this  great  event,  as  well  as 
their  subsequent  adventures  in  the  most  good-natured 
society  in  the  world,  were  cabled  to  the  San  Francisco 
newspapers. 

Mr.  Tay  had  snorted  in  disgust  when  the  plan  was 
unfolded  to  him,  but  had  yielded  to  sulks,  tears,  and 
hysterics.  One  season,  however,  was  all  he  would  finance; 
but  his  wife  and  daughter,  although  they  had  hoped  to 
remain  abroad  for  two  years,  returned  with  the  less  reluc 
tance  as  they  were  now  "names"  in  the  inhospitable  city 
of  their  birth.  These  names  had  been  embroidered  for 
four  months  with  royalty,  a  few  of  the  best  titles  in  Burke, 
and  many  of  the  lesser.  ("Precious  few  will  know  the 
difference,"  said  Cherry,  scornfully.) 

Their  position,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  somewhat  im 
proved;  Cherry  was  admitted  to  the  sacred  Assemblies, 
and  people  allowed  themselves  to  admire  her  Parisian 
gowns,  her  pretty  face,  and  refined  vivacious  manner.  At 
the  end  of  the  season  she  captured  the  son  of  one  of  the  new 
great  millionnaires.  The  Tays  had  arrived.  The  past  was 
forgotten  by  themselves  if  not  by  other  walking  blue  books, 
that  fine  scavenger  element  in  Society  which  allowed  no 
one  permanently  to  sink  "pasts,"  ages,  ancestral  pies, 
saloons,  brothels,  wash-tubs,  or  any  of  the  humble  but 


THREE   POTTERS  135 

honest  beginnings  which  fain  would  repose  beneath  the 
foundations  of  San  Francisco.  But  the  Tays,  like  many 
another,  fancied  their  past  forgotten,  whatever  the  fate  of 
their  neighbors ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  were  now  so 
firmly  established  that  three  divorces  could  not  have  dis 
lodged  them.  Mrs.  Bode,  in  her  superb  mansion  on  Nob 
Hill,  forged  ahead  so  steadily  that  she  enjoyed  excellent 
prospects  of  being  a  Society  Queen,  when  the  old  guard 
should  have  died  off,  and  Mrs.  Tay  had  stuccoed  her 
house,  shaved  off  the  bow-windows,  flattened  the  roof, 
replaced  rep  and  damask  with  silks  and  tapestries,  and 
both  were  happy  women. 

All  this  may  sound  contemptible  to  those  that  enjoy  a 
proper  scorn  of  Society ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
as  the  world  is  at  present  constituted,  women,  not  forced 
to  work  for  their  living,  and  born  without  talent,  have  little 
outlet  for  their  energies.  And  of  these  energies  they  often 
have  as  full  a  supply  as  men.  Besides,  they  don't  know 
any  better. 

Mrs.  Bode  was  thirty-two  at  the  time  the  Tay  family 
entered  Julia's  life,  and  although  she  had  been  abroad  many 
times  since  her  marriage,  this  was  the  first  visit  of  her 
younger  brother  and  sister;  Mr.  Tay  "having  no  use  for 
Europe  and  the  Californians  who  were  always  running 
about  in  it  when  they  had  the  finest  slice  of  God's  own 
country  to  live  in."  But  Mrs.  Bode  was  an  avowed  enemy 
of  the  "provincial  point  of  view,"  and  justly  prided  herself 
upon  being  one  of  the  most  cosmopolitan  women  in  San 
Francisco  society.  She  was  determined  that  her  little 
half-sister,  to  whom  she  was  devoted,  having  no  children 
of  her  own,  should  enjoy  all  the  advantages  she  so  sadly  had 
lacked,  and  Dan's  obstreperous  Americanism  had  "tired" 
her.  So,  for  the  last  eight  months,  with  or  without  the 
amiable  Mr.  Bode,  and  in  spite  of  cables  from  pa,  who 
wished  Daniel  Third  to  finish  his  education  as  quickly  as 
possible  and  enter  the  firm,  she  had  piloted  her  charges 
through  ruins,  picture  galleries,  cities  ancient  and  modern, 
museums,  and  mountain  landscapes ;  besides  forcing  them 


136  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

to  study  French  and  German  two  hours  a  day  with  travel 
ling  tutors;  until  Emily  yawned  in  the  face  of  everything, 
and  Dan  threatened  to  cable  to  his  father  for  funds  and 
return  by  himself.  But  Mrs.  Bode,  whose  own  leave 
of  absence  was  expiring,  held  them  well  in  hand,  and 
announced  her  intention  of  bringing  them  over  every 
summer.  This  program  she  carried  out  as  far  as  Emily 
was  concerned,  but  it  was  fifteen  years  before  Daniel  Tay 
found  time  or  inclination  to  leave  his  native  land  again. 

Their  reception  at  the  castle  was  all  that  Julia  could  have 
wished.  Mrs.  Winstone  was  delighted  to  see  them,  Mrs. 
Bode  being  impeccable  in  her  critical  eyes  inasmuch  as 
she  had  no  accent,  did  not  flaunt  her  riches,  and  was  never 
so  aggressively  well  dressed  that  she  made  an  Englishwoman 
feel  dowdy.  If  she  had  been  told  of  the  Sacramento  store, 
with  the  pies  in  front  and  the  wash-tubs  behind,  it  would 
not  have  affected  her  judgment  in  the  least.  She  would 
have  replied  that  all  Americans  had  some  such  origin; 
and  nothing  amused  her  more  than  their  ancestral  preten 
sions.  "New  is  new,  and  republics  are  republics,"  she 
said  once  to  Mrs.  Macmanus,  when  discussing  a  grande 
dame  from  New  York.  "What  silly  asses  they  are  to 
talk  'family'  in  Europe!  We  like  some  and  we  don't 
others,  and  that's  all  there  is  to  it." 

As  neither  painted,  she  and  Mrs.  Bode  kissed  each 
other  warmly,  and,  the  American  having  had  her  fill  of 
ruins  long  since,  they  went  off  to  a  comfortable  fireside  to 
gossip,  leaving  Emily  and  Daniel  to  Julia.  The  little 
girl  was  openly  rebellious,  when  ordered  to  investigate  the 
ruined  portion  of  the  castle,  but  Daniel  would  have  followed 
Julia  straight  out  into  the  North  Sea.  He  had  never  been 
insensible  to  the  charm  of  girls,  but  here  was  a  goddess, 
and  he  proceeded  to  worship  her  in  the  whole-hearted 
fashion  of  fifteen,  and  with  an  enthusiasm  the  more  possess 
ing  as  it  knew  no  guile. 

They  wandered  through  old  rooms  and  passages,  under 
and  over  ground,  ivy-draped  and  stark,  Julia  recounting 
the  castle's  many  histories.  Emily  lagged  behind  and 


THREE   POTTERS  137 

wilfully  closed  her  ears.  Finally,  having  emerged  upon 
the  flat  roof  of  a  tower,  she  saw  that  she  could  find  her  way 
back  to  the  garden  without  getting  lost,  announced  her 
intention  curtly,  and  ran  down  the  spiral  stair. 

"Good  riddance,"  said  her  brother,  as  he  and  Julia 
sat  down  to  rest.  "But  I  don't  blame  her.  This  is  the 
last  dinky  old  castle  that  I  look  at  this  trip.  America  for 
me,  anyhow.  Don't  think  I'm  a  Western  savage  —  that 
is  what  Cherry  calls  me  —  it's  awfully  good  of  you  to 
climb  round  like  this  and  spiel  off  such  a  lot,  and  this 
really  is  the  dandiest  castle  I've  seen.  But  I've  been 
dragged  through  about  a  hundred,  and  as  for  pictures  - 
wow  !  They  can  only  be  counted  by  miles.  I'll  never 
look  at  another  as  long  as  I  live.  Give  me  chromos,  any 
how.  We  have  some  in  the  garret  at  home,  and  I  like  them 
better  than  the  old  masters  —  got  some  color  and  go  in 
them,  and  not  so  much  religion." 

Julia  laughed  outright.  She  thought  him  a  young 
barbarian,  but  refreshing  as  the  crystal  water  of  a  spring 
after  too  much  old  burgundy  —  this  simile  inspired  by 
memory  of  the  army  of  aristocrats  she  had  met  since  her 
arrival  in  England.  These  gentlemen,  most  of  them  splen 
did  to  look  at,  were  either  formal  and  correct  even  when 
most  languid,  or  bit  their  ideas  out  in  slang,  giving  the 
impression  that  they  thought  in  slang,  dreamed  in  slang, 
indubitably  made  love  in  it;  but  it  was  a  slang,  which, 
loose  and  ugly  as  it  might  be,  often  meaningless,  seemed  to 
cry  "hands  off"  to  all  without  the  pale.  Some  were 
affected,  but  all  of  these  were  affected  in  precisely  the 
same  way.  Each  and  every  one  was  full  of  an  inherited 
wisdom  which  betrayed  itself  in  manner  and  certain  rigid 
mental  attitudes,  even  where  brain  was  lacking.  To  Julia, 
at  this  moment,  they  seemed  in  an  advanced  stage  of 
petrifaction.  Even  Nigel  was  a  grandfather  in  compari 
son  with  this  bright  green  shoot  from  the  new  world.  And 
Julia  warmed  to  his  frank  admiration.  The  men  to-whom 
she  had  done  duty  as  hostess  since  the  i5th  of  September 
had  paid  her  little  or  no  attention.  They  were  interested 


138  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

in  some  one  else,  they  found  her  too  young,  they  were  too 
tired  for  flirtation  after  a  long  day  with  the  guns,  or  they 
were  wary  about  "  poaching  on  the  preserves  of  a  cad  like 
France.  He  had  a  look  in  his  eye  at  times  that  would 
warn  any  man  off." 

Whatever  the  cause,  Julia,  whose  natural  feminine  in 
stinct  for  conquest  had  been  awakened  during  her  brief 
season  in  London  while  she  was  still  a  girl,  and  who  missed 
Nigel's  adoration,  was  willing  to  accept  her  due  at  the 
hands  of  fifteen,  nothing  better  offering.  Besides,  the 
boy  amused  her,  and  she  was  seldom  amused  these  days. 

"Tell  me  more  about  California,"  she  said;  and 
under  a  rapid  fire  of  questions  Dan  artlessly  revealed  the 
history  of  his  family  (he  was  very  proud  of  it),  and,  inci 
dentally,  told  her  much  of  the  social  peculiarities  of  his  city. 
It  was  a  strange  story  to  Julia,  who  knew  nothing  of  young 
civilizations,  and  was  profoundly  imbued  with  a  respect 
for  aristocracies.  She  felt  that  she  should  place  this  young 
scion  of  a  quite  terrible  family  somewhere  between  the 
steward  of  Bosquith  and  Mr.  Leggins;  but  when  she  looked 
squarely  into  that  open  ingenuous  fearless  almost  arro 
gant  face,  the  face  of  an  intelligent  boy  born  in  a  land 
whose  theory  is  equality,  and  in  whose  short  life  poverty 
and  snubs  had  played  no  part,  she  found  herself  accepting 
him  as  an  equal.  His  face  had  not  the  fine  high-bred 
beauty  of  Nigel's  nor  the  mathematical  regularity  of  her 
husband's,  but  the  eyes  were  keener,  the  brow  was  larger 
and  fuller,  the  mouth  more  mobile  than  any  she  knew ; 
and  these  divergencies  fascinated  her.  But  she  drew  her 
self  apart  in  some  resentment  as  he  asked  her  abruptly :  - 

"What  does  your  husband  do  for  a  living?" 

"Do  —  why,  nothing." 

"Nothing?  Great  Scott !  What  sort  of  a  man  is  he? 
When  American  men  don't  work,  even  if  they  have  money, 
we  despise  them.  They  generally  have  to,  anyhow.  If 
they  inherit  money  they  have  to  work  to  hang  on  to  it. 
Some  of  them  drink  themselves  to  death,  but  they  don't 
count." 


THREE   POTTERS  139 

Julia  had  colored  haughtily,  but  wondered  at  her  eager 
ness  in  exclaiming:  "My  husband  was  in  the  navy,  but 
he  has  resigned  and  is  now  a  member  of  Parliament." 

"Well,  that's  doing  something,  but  not  much.  I  remem 
ber,  now,  Cherry  told  me  he's  going  to  be  a  duke.  Then, 
I  suppose,  he'll  do  nothing  at  all." 

"Oh,  yes,  dukes  have  to  look  after  their  estates;  they 
don't  leave  everything  to  their  stewards;  they  take  a 
paternal  interest  in  the  tenantry;  sometimes  they  are 
magistrates,  and  sometimes  they  go  to  the  House  of  Lords." 

"Well,  that's  just  playing  with  life,  to  my  mind,"  said 
young  Tay,  with  conviction.  "A  man  isn't  a  man  who 
doesn't  earn  his  keep  and  make  his  pile.  I'm  almost  sorry 
my  father  is  well  off:  I'd  like  to  make  my  own  fortune. 
But  there's  this  satisfaction;  if  I  don't  work  as  hard  as  he 
does,  when  my  time  comes,  I'll  be  a  beggar  fast  enough. 
Competition's  awful ;  and  even  people  that  do  nothing  but 
cut  coupons  for  a  living  often  get  stuck.  People  are 
rich  to-day  and  poor  to-morrow,  when  they're  not  sharp. 
Makes  life  interesting.  But  just  living  on  ancestral  acres 
-  Gee !  I'd  die  of  old  age  before  I  was  twenty-five." 

"I  wonder  if  that  is  the  way  Ishbel  felt?"  murmured 
Julia,  thoughtfully.  Ishbel's  sudden  departure  from  the 
tenets  of  her  class  had  astounded  her,  and,  in  spite  of 
explanations,  she  was  puzzled  yet. 

"Ishbel?" 

"Lady  Ishbel  Jones.  She  is  the  daughter  of  a  poor 
Irish  peer,  and  married  a  very  rich  City  man.  After  five 
years  of  society  and  pleasure  —  she  is  beautiful  and  charm 
ing  —  she  suddenly  decided  she  wanted  to  make  money 
herself  and  opened  a  hat  shop  in  Bond  Street.  She  would 
just  suit  you." 

But  young  Tay  frowned  and  shook  his  head  vigorously. 
"Not  a  bit  of  it.  Women  were  not  made  to  work,  but  to 
be  worked  for.  If  I  had  my  way,  every  man  should  be 
made  to  support  all  his  poor  women  relations,  and  if  the 
women  hadn't  any  men  relations,  then  I'd  have  the  other 
men  taxed  to  support  them.  It  makes  me  sick  seeing 


140  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

girls  going  to  work  in  the  morning  when  I  am  starting  for 
my  ride  in  the  Park.  And  a  rich  man  to  let  his  wife  work  ! 
I  call  that  downright  disgusting." 

Julia,  much  to  her  astonishment,  resented  this  speech. 
"That's  tyranny  of  another  kind.  Women  are  not  dolls. 
You  talk  like  a  Turk." 

"Turk?  Dolls!"  He  arose  in  his  wrath.  "I'd  have 
you  know  that  American  women  do  just  about  as  they 
please,  and  American  men  are  famous  for  letting  them." 
He  added,  with  his  natural  honesty :  "Some  are  strict  and 
old-fashioned,  like  my  father,  but  nobody  could  say  he  wasn't 
generous.  And  what  I  told  you  is  the  reputation  of  Ameri 
can  men,  anyhow." 

"Well,  sit  down  again,  please.  I  am  surprised.  I 
thought  you  would  respect  Ishbel." 

"  Not  I.     She'll  spoil  her  looks,  and  then  where'll  she  be  ?  " 

Julia,  in  a  moment  of  prescience,  asked  with  a  mixture 
of  wistfulness  and  disdain,  "Do  you  care  so  much  for 
mere  beauty?" 

"Betcherlife.  I  hate  ugliness,  and  I  love  pretty  girls. 
We  have  them  in  San  Francisco  by  wholesale.  To  be  ugly 
is  a  crime  out  there.  I  intend  to  marry  the  prettiest  I  can 
find  just  as  soon  as  I'm  old  enough." 

"And  some  day  —  when*  she  loses  her  youth  and  beauty  ?" 

"Oh,  I'll  love  her  just  the  same,  for  she'll  be  my  wife, 
and  I'll  be  old  myself  then,  and  have  nothing  to  say.  But 
I'll  have  had  the  pick.  I  intend  to  have  the  pick  of  every 
thing  going. " 

"Going?" 

"In  life.  I  must  teach  you  our  slang.  English  slang 
has  no  sense." 

"I  fancy  I  could  understand  you  better  if  you  did.  But 
I've  seen  men  whose  wives  were  once  young  and  pretty, 
and  who  are  always  after  some  beauty  twenty  years  younger 
than  themselves  — thirty  —  forty  - 

Then  she  blushed,  feeling  that  such  a  display  of  worldly 
knowledge  was  a  desecration  in  the  presence  of  fifteen 
summers. 


THREE  POTTERS  141 

But  young  Tay  answered  indifferently:  "Oh,  we've 
plenty  of  those  at  home.  The  bald  heads  always  make 
the  worst  fools  of  themselves.  But  I  mean  to  have  a  real 
romance  in  my  life  and  stick  to  it.  Shall  only  have  time 
for  one,  as  when  once  I  put  on  the  harness  I  mean  to  keep 
it  on.  I'm  going  to  be  one  of  the  biggest  millionnaires  in 
the  United  States.  Say,  what  made  you  marry  so  young  ? 
You  don't  look  more  than  sixteen." 

"I'm  nineteen,"  replied  Julia,  haughtily. 
44  Well,  don't  get  huffy.     You  ought  to  see  how  extra 
sweet  Cherry  looks  when  some  one  tells  her  she  looks  ten 
years  younger  than  she  is  — 

"So  does  Aunt  Maria  !"  Julia  laughed  again.  "Fancy 
a  boy  like  you  noticing  such  things." 

"I'm  fifteen,  not  so  young  for  a  man,  particularly  when 
he's  been  brought  up  in  a  family  of  women.  He  gets  on 
to  all  their  curves  —  I  tell  you  what !  And  I  can  tell  you 
that  many  an  American  boy  of  fifteen  is  supporting  his 
mother  —  whole  family." 
"You  don't  mean  it!" 

"I  do.  It's  not  so  easy,  but  it's  done  everyday.  I 
don't  pretend  there  are  not  lots  that  let  their  sisters  work, 
but  that's  either  because  they  can't  get  along,  no  matter 
how  hard  they  try,  or  because  there's  a  screw  loose  — 
foreign  blood,  most  likely.  No  real  American  would  do 
it.  If  pa  died  to-morrow,  I'd  quit  school  and  go  Bright 
into  the  firm.  Nobody'd  get  the  best  of  me,  neither." 

It  was  impossible  to  resist  such  firm  self-confidence. 
Julia  looked  at  him  in  open  admiration. 

"Say!"  he  exclaimed,  with  one  of  his  dazzling  leaps 
among    the   peaks   of   conversation.     "Would   you   mind 
letting  your  hair  down?" 
"Why --What?" 

"I'd  like  to  see  all  of  it."  And  young  Tay  spoke  in  the 
tone  of  one  unaccustomed  to  have  his  requests  ignored. 
"Do." 

Julia  looked  him  over,  shrugged  her  shoulders,  then  took 
out  the  combs  and  pins.  After  all,  he  was  only  a  boy,  and 


142  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

she  was  feeling  singularly  contented.  It  was  seldom  that 
she  had  experienced  more  than  a  fleeting  moment  of  com 
panionship.  She  had  come  near  to  it  with  Nigel,  Bridgit, 
and  Ishbel,  but  they  seemed  years  older  than  herself,  and 
vastly  superior.  She  would  have  been  unwilling  to  admit 
it,  but  at  this  moment  she  really  felt  sixteen. 

"Jiminy!"  exclaimed  young  Tay,  as  the  breeze  lifted 
the  shining  masses  of  hair.  "There's  nothing  to  beat  it 
even  in  California.  Red?  Not  a  bit  of  it.  It's  the  color 
of  flames,  and  flames  are  a  clear  red-yellow  —  like  Guinea 
gold." 

He  didn't  touch  it,  but  his  eyes  sparkled  as  he  watched 
it  float,  or  hang  about  her  white  face  and  brilliant  eyes 
in  their  black  frames.  "Gee !  But  I'd  like  to  marry  you. 
Why  couldn't  you  wait  awhile  ?  " 

"It  wouldn't  have  done  any  good,"  said  Julia,  who, 
like  most  females,  was  of  a  literal  turn.  "I  shouldn't  be 
here,  but  in  the  West  Indies,  and  you  might  never  go  there." 

"Well,  what's  done's  done,"  replied  the  boy,  gloomily, 
and  with  the  agreeable  sensation  of  being  the  blighted  hero 
of  a  romance  so  early  in  life.  "  What  sort  of  a  chap  is  your 
husband?  I  shall  hate  him,  but  I'd  like  to  know — " 

"He  — well  — he's  - 

"You're  not  so  dead  gone  on  him,"  said  the  boy,  shrewdly. 

"Not  what?" 

"More  slang.  Not  —  oh,  hang  it,  it  doesn't  sound  so 
well  in  plain  English.  That's  what  slang's  for.  How 
old  is  he?" 

"  Forty-one." 

"Great  Scott!" 

The  boy  betrayed  his  own  youth  in  that  exclamation,  in 
spite  of  his  precocious  wisdom.  Forty-one  suggests  senile 
decay  to  arrogant  fifteen.  Julia's  own  youth  leaped  to 
that  heartfelt  outbreak,  and  she  burst  into  tears. 

Young  Tay  forgot  that  he  was  in  love  with  her,  and  patted 
her  heartily  on  the  back.  "Oh,  say!  Don't  do  that!" 
he  cried.  "  But  what  did  you  do  it  for  ?  " 

Julia,  to  the  first  confidant  she  had  ever  had,  sobbed  out 


THREE   POTTERS  M3 

her  story.  Daniel  pranced  about  the  roof  of  the  tower 
and  kicked  loose  stones  into  space.  "I  — I  — hate  him," 
concluded  Julia,  then  stopped  in  terror,  realizing  that  she 
had  never  admitted  as  much  to  herself.  But  she  squarely 
faced  the  truth.  "I  do.  And  —  I'm  —  I'm  frightened.' 
"See  here."  Daniel  sat  down  beside  her  once  more. 
"You're  only  a  kid,  and  this  is  the  very  worst  I  ever  heard. 
Talk  about  cruelty  to  animals  !  I've  read  some  of  those 
novels  that  are  always  lying  round  the  house  —  English 
high  life,  and  all  that  rot  —  but  I  supposed  they  were  all 
made  up.  I  never  believed  that  mothers  really  made 
their  daughters  marry  against  their  will.  Why,  somehow, 
it  sounds  like  ancient  history.  Say  —  this  is  what  you 
must  do  —  come  to  California  with  us.  Cherry'll  manage 
it.  She's  rich,  all  right,  and  manages  everything  and 
everybody.  Then  just  as  soon  as  I'm  old  enough  I'll  marry 

you  —  see?" 

"How  could  I  marry  you  when  I'm  married  already? 

"Divorce.  Plain  as  a  pikestaff.  And  I'll  take  bully 
good  care  of  you,  and  never  look  at  another  girl-" 
'  Julia  dried  her  eyes.  The  plan  was  alluring,  but  in  a 
moment  she  shook  her  head.  Her  keen  intuitions  warned 
her  not  to  mention  the  planets  to  this  ultra-occidental 
person,  but  there  was  another  argument  equally  forcible. 

"My    husband   would    kill    us   both.     He  —  he - 
never  seen  him  in  a  temper  —  he's  taking  care  of  his  heart 
-  but  I  fed  he's  got  a  horrible  one,  and  he  seems  to  enjoy 
saying  that  if  ever  I  looked  at  another  man  he'd  strangle  us 

both—" 

"Pooh!    I  guess  they  all  say  that  when  they  re  firs 

married  - 

"And  he's  cruel  to  animals.     Englishmen  are  sek 
that.     It  isn't  that  I'm  really  afraid  of  him  now  - 
I  have  a  presentiment  that  I  shall  be  some  day.     His  eyes 
are  sometimes  so  strange  —  not  like  eyes  at  all  — just 
glass  —  he  —  he  —  doesn't  look  human  then." 

"  He  must  be  a  peach.    Gee  !  —  but  I'd  like  to  punch  h 
You've  got  to  come  with  us.    That's  certain.     I'll 


144  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

Cherry  over  to-night.     She'd  just  love  figuring  in  a  sensa 
tion  with  the  British  aristocracy." 

"  Perhaps  she  wouldn't  care  to  offend  it,"  said  the  more 
astute  female.  "From  all  I  hear,  the  rich  Americans  that 
come  to  London  don't  do  much  to  - 

"  Don't  mind  my  feelings  !  Queer  themselves.  I  guess 
not.  But  I'll  bring  her  round.  Oh,  don't  put  your  hair 
up!" 

"It  is  time  to  go  back."  Julia  gave  her  hair  a  dexterous 
twist,  wound  the  coil  about  her  head,  and  pinned  it  in  place. 
"You  must  have  your  tea." 

"Tea!"  The  contempt  of  composite  American  man 
hood  exploded  in  his  tones. 

"Well,  you  can  have  whiskey  and  soda,  although  you're 
rather  young  - 

For  the  first  time  Daniel's  magnificent  aplomb  deserted 
him.  He  flushed  and  turned  away  his  head.  "That's 
where  you've  got  me.  I've  had  orders  from  pa  not  to 
touch  alcohol  or  tobacco  until  I'm  twenty-one.  If  I  do, 
I'll  lose  my  chance  of  being  taken  into  the  firm,  be  put  to 
work  as  a  clerk  somewhere,  and  get  no  more  education.  If 
I  pull  out  all  right,  I'm  to  have  ten  thousand  dollars  plunk 
on  my  twenty-first  birthday.  You  see  the  San  Francisco 
boys,  particularly  when  they've  got  money,  are  pretty 
wild.  I  don't  say  I  wouldn't  like  to  be  once  in  a  while, 
just  for  the  fun  of  the  thing,  but  I  promised  to  please  pa 
-he  was  so  uneasy,  and  I'm  the  only  son.  But  when  I 
get  that  ten  thousand  I'm  going  to  blow  it  in  on  a  big 
spree  —  have  suppers  in  the  Palace  Hotel,  and  throw  all 
the  plates  out  of  the  window  into  the  court  —  just  to  show 
what  I  can  do;  then  settle  down.  What  I've  made  up 
my  mind  to  do,  I'll  do.  I'm  not  a  bit  afraid  of  liquor  or 
anything  else  getting  the  better  of  me." 

Julia,  who  was  watching  him,  was  puzzled  at  the  expres 
sion  of  his  mobile  face.  It  was  not  so  much  that  its  natural 
strength  was  relaxed  for  a  moment  by  some  subtle  source 
of  weakness,  as  that  the  strong  passions  of  the  man  stirred 
in  their  heavy  sleep  and  sent  a  light  wave  across  the  clean 


THREE   POTTERS  145 

carefully  sentinelled  mind  above.  Julia  did  not  pretend 
to  understand,  nor  did  any  ghost  in  her  own  depths  whisper 
of  the  future.  She  put  her  arm  about  his  neck  and  kissed 
him  impulsively. 

"That's  splendid  of  you.  And  don't  you  ever  drink. 
It  killed  my  father,  and  it's  killing  my  brother.  And  it 
makes  people  so  hideous  to  look  at.  Now  come  down. 
I  don't  want  Aunt  Maria  io  scold  me.  They  don't  mer  n 
it,  all  these  older  people,  but  they  humiliate  me  ail  tl.e 
time.  You  are  the  only  person  I've  met  in  England  that 
makes  me  feel  it's  not  silly  to  be  young." 

She  picked  her  way  daintily  down  the  rough  staircase, 
young  Tay  after  her,  again  with  that  sense  of  being  willing 
to  follow  her  to  the  end  of  the  earth.  He  even  drank  a 
cup  of  tea.  But  the  ancestral  hall,  with  its  women  in  gay 
tea-gowns,  and  a  few  men  who  had  returned  earlier  than 
their  more  ardent  companions,  made  him  feel  suddenly 
very  young  and  very  American.  He  looked  at  Julia,  whose 
place  at  the  tea-table  was  occupied  by  Mrs.  Winstone, 
and  who  was  attracting  as  little  attention  as  Emily,  and 
felt  more  chivalrously  in  love  than  ever. 


XV 

MRS.  BODE  had  come  that  afternoon  to  Bosquith  with 
the  well-defined  intention  of  receiving  an  invitation  to 
return  and  spend  a  week.  Mrs.  Winstone,  who  was  about 
to  be  deserted  by  Mrs.  Macmanus,  and  was  growing  more 
bored  daily,  now  that  the  novelty  of  playing  hostess  for 
the  Duke  of  Kingsborough  was  wearing  thin,  and  medi 
tated  a  round  of  visits  to  more  amusing  houses  at  no  distant 
date,  was  delighted  at  the  advent  of  the  vivacious  American 
and  needed  no  subtle  arts  of  suggestion  to  invite  her  for 
the  following  Monday.  The  children  were  included  in  the 
invitation,  but  Emily  begged  to  be  permitted  to  visit  a 
school  friend  at  present  in  London,  and  Mrs.  Bode  returned 
with  the  enamoured  Dan. 

She  had  been  astounded,  then  amused  at  his  plan  to 
abduct  young  Mrs.  France,  but  found  herself  forced  to 
appeal  to  his  reason.  He  had  stormed  about  the  hotel 
sitting-room,  calling  her  names  for  the  first  time  in  his  life : 
"snob,"  " coward,"  "heartless  woman, "  " no  sister."  Mrs. 
Bode,  whose  good-nature  was  one  of  her  assets,  and 
immune  to  unspoken  insults  long  since,  refused  to  be 
offended,  wisely  repressed  her  desire  to  laugh,  pretended 
sympathy,  did  not  once  allude  to  the  fact  that  he  was 
merely  fifteen,  and  talked  to  him  as  a  wise  woman  ever 
talks  to  a  man  whose  common  sense  is  for  the  moment  in 
abeyance. 

"Come  back  and  get  her  when  you  are  twenty-one," 
she  advised.  "By  that  time  you  will  be  a  full  partner  in 
the  business,  and  father  can't  balk  you.  You  know  how 
romantic  he  is !  And  you  also  know  his  old-fashioned 
prejudice  against  divorce,  his  Puritanical  morals  generally. 
A  nice  figure  we  should  both  cut  in  his  eyes  if  we  returned 
with  the  runaway  wife  of  an  Englishman  who  hadn't  given 

146 


THREE   POTTERS  147 

her  the  ghost  of  an  excuse.  I  happen  to  know  France  is 
mad  about  her.  I  also  know  she  hasn't  a  cent  of  her  own, 
and  she  looks  as  proud  as  they  make  'em.  Do  you  fancy 
she'd  live  on  our  charity  for  six  years?  Not  she.  Even 
if  she  were  mad  enough  to  come,  she'd  go  to  work  - 

"  Work  ?     My  wife  work  ?    She  work  ?  " 

" There  you  are  !"  And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  this  argu 
ment  clinched  the  matter.  The  moment  he  was  alone 
with  Julia  after  his  arrival  at  Bosquith  he  informed  her 
that  within  twenty-four  hours  after  he  was  made  a  partner 
in  the  firm,  and  his  own  master,  he  should  start  for  Eng 
land  —  should  use  the  ten  thousand  for  that  purpose  in 
stead  of  going  on  a  spree.  He  should  take  her  at  once  to 
the  quickest  place  in  America  for  divorce,  and  then  marry 
her.  Julia  was  much  too  feminine  to  laugh,  vowed  never 
to  forget  him,  and  during  his  stay  at  the  castle  devoted 
herself  to  his  entertainment.  He  showed  no  disposition  to 
be  sentimental,  and  as  it  was  a  novel  experience,  and  he 
was  always  bright  and  amusing,  besides  telling  her  much 
of  his  strange  continent,  she  enjoyed  herself  thoroughly. 

Young  Tay,  aside  from  his  natural  jealousy,  took  an 
immediate  and  profound  dislike  to  France,  a  sensation 
inspired  in  most  moderately  decent  men  by  that  reprobate, 
even  when  he  was  on  his  good  behavior.  Dan  went  so 
far  as  to  avoid  his  vicinity  lest  he  punch  him.  As  for 
France,  he  was  little  more  than  aware  of  the  youth's  pres 
ence  in  the  castle,  and  thought  Julia  damned  good-natured 
to  talk  to  him.  That  they  spent  their  days  riding  over  the 
moors,  or  along  the  cliffs,  or  sitting  in  the  various  romantic 
nooks  of  garden  and  ruin,  he  had,  of  course,  no  suspicion, 
or  he  might  have  concluded  that  his  wife  carried  her  notions 
of  hospitality  a  bit  too  far. 

When  young  Tay  left,  Julia  kissed  him  good-bv.  gave 
him  a  lock  of  her  hair,  intimated  that  six  years  would  seem 
an  eternity,  promised  to  write  once  a  week,  then  cruelly 
forgot  him,  save  when  his  postcards  arrived. 

At  first  they  came  in  a  shower,  then  straggled  along  for  a 
year,  finally  ceased  after  an  apologetic  one  from  college. 


i48  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

Julia  answered  a  few  of  them,  but  boys  of  fifteen,  no  matter 
how  clever  and  companionable,  cannot  hope  to  make  a  very 
deep  impression  on  nineteen;  and  Julia  had  much  to  drive 
him  from  her  mind,  in  any  case.  She  rarely  saw  Mrs.  Bode 
during  that  lady's  frequent  visits  to  London,  and,  had  she 
thought  about  the  matter  at  all,  would  have  ticketed  Tay 
as  one  of  the  few  amusing  episodes  in  her  life,  and  assumed 
that  he  had  gone  out  of  it  forever.  A  young  wife,  revolting 
in  profound  distaste  from  her  husband,  and  at  the  same  time 
high-minded  and  fastidious,  is  the  most  unimpressionable 
of  human  beings.  All  men  are  alike  hateful  to  her. 


XVI 

IN  December  and  January  two  historical  events  caused  an 
excitement  into  which  Julia  threw  herself  so  whole-heart 
edly  that  for  a  time  she  managed  to  forget  her  personal  life ; 
taking  pains  to  become  intimate  with  every  detail,  she  was 
obligingly  conversed  with  by  some  of  the  important  older 
men  at  Bosquith,  and  pronounced  by  the  younger  to  be 
"waking  up." 

On  December  17  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
Mr.  Cleveland,  sent  his  famous  message  to  Congress 
concerning  the  long-standing  dispute  between  England 
and  Venezuela  as  to  the  boundaries  between  that 
state  and  British  Guiana.  The  United  States  had  pro 
posed  arbitration;  Lord  Salisbury  would  have  none  of  it, 
intimating  that  England  knew  what  belonged  to  her  without 
being  told.  Whereupon  Mr.  Cleveland  hurled  his  bomb : 
Congress,  after  being  reminded  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
(which  accumulates  mould  from  long  intervals  of  disuse), 
was  requested  to  authorize  the  President  to  appoint  a 
boundary  rommission  whose  findings  would  be  "imposed 
upon  Great  Britain  by  all  the  resources  of  the  United  States.' 

There  was  a  financial  panic  (in  which,  incidentally,  Mr. 
Jones  lost  a  great  deal  of  money),  the  newspapers  thundered, 
Mr.  Cleveland,  at  Bosquith,  as  elsewhere,  was  called  an 
"ignorant  firebrand,"  and  "no  doubt  a  well-meaning 
bourgeois,"  everybody  tried  to  understand  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  that  they  might  despise  it,  and  for  nearly  a  week 
war  between  the  two  countries  seemed  imminent. 

Mr.  Cleveland  went  fishing  and  was  unapproachable 
until  the  excitement  had  subsided.  Lord  Salisbury  con 
sented  to  the  Boundary  Commission,  with  modifications; 
and  the  whole  matter  was  forgotten  on  New  Year's  Day  in 
a  far  more  picturesque  sensation,  and  one  productive  of 
far  graver  results :  England  was  electrified  with  news  of  the 

149 


150  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

Jameson  Raid.  Over  this  episode  feeling  for  and  against 
the  impulsive  doctor  ran  so  high,  before  all  the  facts  came  to 
light,  that  more  than  one  house-party  was  threatened  with 
disruption ;  although  in  the  main  it  was  the  young  people 
with  warm  adventurous  blood  that  sympathized,  and 
alarmed  older  heads  that  condemned.  "Little  Englanders," 
''Imperialists,"  exploded  like  bombs  at  every  table,  even 
after  a  hard  day  with  guns  or  hounds.  But  although  the  ex 
citement  lasted  all  through  the  hunting  season  (with  which 
it  did  not  interfere  in  the  least),  the  chief  advantage  derived 
from  it  by  Julia  was  a  romantic  interest  in  a  new  and  mighty 
personality.  For  long  after  she  kept  a  scrap  book  about 
Cecil  Rhodes,  followed  his  testimony  before  the  special 
committee  in  Westminster  with  breathless  interest,  trying 
to  find  it  as  picturesque  as  Macaulay's  u  Trial  of  Warren 
Hastings,"  which  she  read  at  the  time ;  and,  until  life  became 
too  personal,  consoled  herself  with  the  belief  that  he  was 
the  man  heaven  had  made  for  her.  This  fact  would  not  be 
worth  mentioning  save  that  half  the  women  in  England 
were  cherishing  the  same  belief.  These  liaisons  in  the  air 
have  cheated  the  divorce  court  and  saved  the  hearthstone 
far  oftener  than  man  has  the  least  idea  of. 

The  duke  returned  to  London  two  days  before  the  opening 
of  Parliament,  and  took  his  household  with  him.  France, 
now  quite  restored  to  health,  bitterly  resented  leaving  the 
country  before  the  hunting  was  over,  and  Julia,  who  felt 
her  happiest  and  freest  when  on  a  horse,  and  had  proved 
herself  a  fine  cross-country  rider,  had  no  desire  to  i>e  shut 
up  in  a  gloomy  London  house  during  what  for  England 
was  still  midwinter.  But  France  dared  not  sulk  aloud, 
and  Julia  was  doing  her  best  to  be  philosophical.  Besides, 
she  was  to  have  a  purely  feminine  compensation. 

Mrs.  Winstone,  accepting  the  invitation  of  Mrs.  Mac- 
manus,  had  gone  to  the  Riviera  to  remain  until  mid-April, 
but  before  she  left  she  had  given  France  several  hints 
on  the  subject  of  his  wife's  wardrobe  for  the  coming  season. 
In  consequence,  on  the  morning  after  their  arrival  in  London, 
he  entered  his  wife's  room  at  seven  o'clock,  attired  for  his 


THREE   POTTERS  151 

morning  ride,  awakened  her,  and  handed  over  a  check  for 
fifty  pounds. 

"Your  aunt  says  that  some  of  your  fine  clothes  are  not 
worn  out  and  can  be  remodelled,  but  that  you  must  have 
others  and  hats  and  all  that  rot.  Women's  things  cost 
too  much,  anyhow.  They  ought  to  make  their  own  things. 
I've  seen  women  do  it.  You  must  manage  with  this  now, 
and  as  much  more  six  months  hence.  It's  a  bally  lot,  but 
you've  got  to  have  some  sort  of  finery  for  our  ball  on 
the  fifteenth.  Don't  pay  anybody  till  the  last  minute. 
They're  such  silly  asses  it  does  me  good  to  wring  'em  dry. 
Besides,  what  are  they  made  for  ?  By  and  by  when  you 
know  more  about  money,  you  can  send  me  the  bills  for  the 
same  amount.  But  afraid  to  trust  you  now.  Know 
women.  By-by." 

He  kissed  her  casually  (not  being  in  a  mood  for  love- 
making)  and  Julia  sat  up  and  blinked  at  the  check,  the 
first  she  had  ever  held  in  her  hand;  Mrs.  Winstone  having 
had  charge  of  her  mother's  little  wedding  present,  and  the 
larger  sum  placed  at  her  disposal  by  the  duke. 

She  now  knew  something  of  the  value  of  money.  She 
also  knew  that  her  husband's  income,  between  his  annuity, 
the  rent  of  his  place  in  Hertfordshire,  and  the  duke's  allow 
ance,  was  quite  two  thousand  pounds  a  year.  This  would 
have  gone  a  short  distance  if  he  had  been  obliged  to  set  up 
in  London  for  himself,  but,  living  with  the  duke,  his  only 
expenses  were  his  club  dues,  his  valet,  and  his  clothes, 
which  he  didn't  pay  for.  She  had  expected  no  less  than  two 
hundred  pounds,  and  wondered  at  his  meanness.  There 
could  be  no  other  reason  for  the  smallncss  of  the  check : 
there  was  no  question  of  his  fidelity  to  her,  he  pretended 
to  despise  cards  (Julia  already  guessed  that  men  would  not 
play  with  him),  and  he  did  not  even  have  to  pay  for  the 
keep  of  his  horse,  as  the  duke's  mews  were  at  his  disposal. 

Julia  thought  upon  Mrs.  Bode's  immense  allowance  with 
a  frown,  and  unshed  she  were  an  American,  sent  a  fleeting 
thought  to  the  still  faithful  Dan,  and  wondered  if  he  would 
really  come  for  her  one  of  these  long  days. 


1 52  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

To  be  sure  Ishbel  had  spent  quantities  of  money,  but  only  to 
gratify  an  upstart  millionnaire ;  and  although  Julia  had  now 
met  many  women  with  bewildering  wardrobes,  she  knew 
that  they  were  paid  for  in  divers  ways,  when  paid  for  at  all. 
Still,  she  doubted  if  any  of  them  had  a  husband  as  mean 
as  hers,  for  most  men,  no  matter  how  selfish,  have  a  certain 
pride  in  their  wives,  and,  in  the  absence  of  settlements, 
make  them  a  decent  allowance.  And  she,  a  future  duchess 
of  England,  to  get  along  on  a  hundred  pounds  a  year  ! 

"I  should  be  paid  high  for  living  with  him,"  she  thought  as 
she  rang  for  her  tea ;  and  had  not  the  least  idea  that  she  was 
voicing  the  sentiments  of  thousands  of  wives,  from  the  top 
most  branch  of  the  peerage  down  to  the  mates  of  laborers 
that  slaved  to  make  both  ends  meet  and  had  less  to  spend 
than  a  housemaid ;  whose  rewards  for  work  were  her  own. 

But  Julia  was  not  troubling  her  young  head  with  prob 
lems  sociological  and  economic  at  this  time.  She  knew 
that  she  had  missed  happiness,  but  she  craved  enjoyment, 
pleasure,  excitement,  and,  if  the  truth  must  be  told,  un 
limited  sweets.  The  duke  disapproved  of  anything  but  the 
heavy  puddings  of  his  race,  varied  only  by  "  tarts"  drenched 
with  cream;  and  Julia  had  discovered  an  American  "candy 
store,"  and  her  sweet  tooth  ached. 

As  soon  as  she  was  dressed,  she  sought  Ishbel  and  held  a 
consultation  with  her  in  the  little  boudoir  above  the  shop. 

Ishbel  could  not  suppress  an  exclamation  at  the  amount 
of  the  check. 

"Surely  the  duke-  "  she  began. 

But  Julia  shook  her  head.  "  Aunt  Maria  said  he  could  not 
be  expected  to  do  more,  as  we  live  with  him,  and  he  gives 
Harold  a  thousand  a  year.  But  I  know  she  expected  me  to 
have  far  more  than  this.  She  told  me  she  had  had  a  very 
satisfactory  talk  with  Harold  and  was  sure  he  would  be 
generous." 

11  Perhaps  you  can  talk  him  over  - 

"I'll  never  mention  the  subject  of  money  to  him  if  I  can 
help  it.  Why  doesn't  the  law  compel  every  man  to  settle  a 
part  of  his  income  on  his  wife  ?  It  should  be  automatic." 


THREE   POTTERS  153 

"We  are  not  half  civilized  yet  —  all  laws  having  been 
made  by  men  !  But  every  woman  of  spirit  gets  the  best  of 
them  one  way  or  another,  although  her  character  often 
sutlers  in  the  process.  That  was  the  obscure  reason  of  my 
strike  for  liberty.  I  see  it  now.  There  is  nothing  for 
you  but  to  practise  the  time-honored  methods.  You  have 
been  placed  in  a  great  position  and  you  must  dress  it. 
Get  what  you  want.  Your  position  assures  you  credit. 
Dressmakers  are  used  to  waiting,  poor  dears,  and  so  are 
shopkeepers.  Your  husband  will  be  forced  to  pay  the 
bills  in  time.  You  will  have  to  be  adamant,  impervious  to 
rowing,  when  the  days  of  reckoning  come.  Tell  him  that 
it  is  clothes  or  a  flat  in  West  Kensington,  where  nothing 
will  be  expected  of  you  - 

"I  hate  it !"  cried  Julia,  her  eyes  blazing,  and  her  hair 
looking  redder  than  flames.  "I  hate  such  a  life." 

"  Of  course  you  do.  So  do  thousands  of  other  women ;  but 
as  long  as  society,  with  all  its  abominable  demands,  exists, 
and  men  are  unreasonable,  just  so  long  will  we  limp  along  on 
credit,  and  gain  our  ends  by  devious  methods.  Now  to 
be  practical.  I  shall  make  your  hats  at  cost  price,  and 
France  will  not  keep  me  waiting  much  longer  than  most 
people  do.  This  afternoon  I'll  go  and  look  over  your 
wardrobe.  I  know  a  splendid  little  dressmaker  —  Toner, 
her  name  is  —  who  remodels  last  year's  gowns  and  brings 
them  up  to  date.  She  is  the  only  person  you  will  have 
to  pay  at  once,  for  she  really  is  badly  off.  For  your  new 
reception  gowns,  ball  gowns  and  tailor  things,  you  will 
have  to  go  to  the  smartest  houses.  I  shall  introduce  you, 
but  it  is  hardly  necessary ;  they  will  fall  down  before  you  - 

"I  shall  feel  like  a  thief!" 

"Of  course.  You  will  be  one,  but  only  temporarily,  and 
it  will  be  much  more  disagreeable  for  you  than  for  them. 
Your  husband  is  not  bankrupt,  and  must  pay  your  bills.  I 
wonder  where  you  get  your  squeamishness  from  —  at  your 
age?  You  belong  to  our  class,  and  from  what  you  have  told 
me  of  your  life  at  home  - 

"I  know!     Mother  thought  I  didn't  know  it,  but  I  did. 


i54  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

Children  see  everything.     But  it  horrifies  and  disgusts  me. 
I  suppose  I  must  be  innately  middle  class  !" 

"Dear  me,  no.  You  are  merely  ultra-modern.  I  wonder 
what  has  waked  you  up  before  your  time  —  and  with  no 
outside  influences?  Odd.  Well,  I  fancy  sensitive  brains 
get  messages,  are  played  upon  by  waves  of  the  intense 
thought  that  is  in  operation  all  the  time,  trying  to  solve 
the  problems  of  existence.  Bridgit  was  right.  I  thought 
it  would  take  longer." 

"What  do  you  mean  by  that?" 

"She'll  explain  when  she  gets  hold  of  you  !  Oh,  thank 
heaven  I  am  my  own  mistress,  and  need  never  accept  a 
penny  from  a  man  again, —  and  am  done  with  the  crooked 
ways  of  my  sex." 

She  looked  radiant,  and  Julia  exclaimed :  - 

"Why,  you  are  more  beautiful  than  ever.  You  haven't 
gone  off  a  bit." 

"Why  should  I  ?"  asked  Ishbel,  in  amazement. 

"Well  —  I  made  friends  with  an  American  last  autumn, 
and  he  thought  it  dreadful  for  women  to  work." 

"It  is  a  toss-up  which  women  suffer  the  greatest  injustice 
from  their  men,  the  English  or  the  Americans.  At  least 
our  oppressions  have  developed  us  far  ahead  of  them. 
They've  only  scratched  the  surface  of  their  minds  as  yet  - 
those  that  are  known  as  the  'fortunate'  ones.  Of  course 
there  is  a  big  middle  class,  scrimping  hard  to  make  ends 
meet,  and,  no  doubt,  having  quite  as  much  trouble  with  their 
men  as  we  do.  They  will  catch  up  with  us  far  sooner  than 
those  walking  advertisements  of  millionnaires,  who  think  they 
are  independent  and  spoiled,  and  are  only  slaves  of  a  new 
sort.  It  is  well,  by  the  way,  that  I  set  up  when  I  did.  Jimmy 
not  only  lost  thousands  during  the  panic,  but  has  de 
veloped  a  mania  for  speculation.  I  think  it  is  because  he 
has  so  much  less  of  society  than  formerly,  and  wants  ex 
citement." 

"Does  he  blame  you  ?"  asked  Julia,  going  to  the  point  as 
usual.  "Of  course  people  don't  want  him  without  you.  I 
hear  he  wasn't  asked  to  a  single  house  party." 


THREE   POTTERS  155 

"Yes,  he  blames  me.  My  conscience  hurt  me  for  a 
time,  but  I  talked  it  out  with  Bridgit,  and  we  both  came 
to  the  same  conclusion:  during  those  five  years  I  paid 
him  back  with  interest.  If  he  can't  take  care  of  himself 
now,  it  is  his  own  lookout.  I  am  living  to  repay  him 
what  I  borrowed,  for  he  has  thrown  it  at  my  head  more 
than  once,  his  losses  not  having  improved  his  temper. 
That  is  the  reason  I  am  not  going  out  at  all  this 
year." 

Julia,  twirling  her  check,  stared  at  her.  The  immense 
amount  of  reading  she  had  done  had  set  her  mind  in  active 
motion,  developing  natural  powers  of  reason  and  analysis. 
And  unconsciously,  during  the  last  six  months,  at  least, 
she  had  been  studying  and  classifying  the  many  types  she 
had  met.  She  knew  that  Ishbel,  as  she  uttered  her  ap 
parently  heartless  and  unfeminine  sentiments,  should  have 
looked  hard,  sharp,  or,  at  the  best,  superintellectualized 
and  businesslike.  But  never  had  she  looked  prettier, 
more  piquant,  more  feminine.  Her  liquid  brown  eyes  were 
full  of  laughter,  her  pink  lips  were  as  softly  curved  as  those 
of  a  child  that  has  never  whined,  and  her  rich  voice  had  no 
edge  on  it.  Charm  radiated  from  her.  In  a  flash  of 
intuition  Julia  understood. 

"It  is  because  you  like  men  —  that  you  don't  change," 
she  said.  "You  never  will.  But  how  do  you  reconcile 
it  ?  You  despise  them  - 

"Oh,  dear  me,  no.  I  adore  them.  No  charming  man's 
magnetism  is  ever  lost  on  me,  and  I  am  in  love  with  three  at 
the  present  moment.  That  is  ail,  besides  my  work,  that 
I  have  time  for.  Only  —  I  don't  have  to  marry  any  of 
them,  and  find  out  all  their  little  absurdities.  I  idealize 
them,  sentimentalize  over  them,  and  that  pleasant  process 
would  color  the  grayest  of  lives." 

"Suppose  you  should  really  fall  in  love?" 

"Oh,  I  am  quite  safe  until  thirty,  then  again  until  forty; 
then  again  I  shall  have  a  respite  until  fifty.  Perhaps  by  that 
time  we  shall  carry  over  till  sixty.  It  would  be  rather  jolly. 
And  the  certainty  of  falling  in  love  once  in  ten  years  is  not 


156  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

only  something  to  look  forward  to,  but  ought  to  satisfy 
any  reasonable  woman." 

"I  wonder  if  you  are  what  my  American  friend  called 
bluffing." 

Ishbel  blushed,  dimpled,  looked  the  most  lovable  creature 
in  the  world  and  the  most  temperamental.  But  she  laughed 
outright. 

"  Of  course  I  bluff,  my  dearest  girl.  I  bluff  every  moment 
of  my  life ;  I  bluffed  myself,  poor  Jimmy,  and  the  world  for 
five  years.  Now  I  bluff  myself  into  thinking  I  am  radiantly 
happy  because  I  am  independent,  whereas  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  I  am  often  tired  to  death,  hate  the  people  I  have 
to  be  nice  to  —  it  is  not  so  vastly  different  from  matrimonial 
servility  and  management,  except  that  you  are  more  easily 
rid  of  them,  and  they  are  always  changing.  But  I  stick  to 
this,  shall  stick  to  it  until  I  have  made  enough  to  invest 
and  give  me  an  independent  income;  no  matter  how  much 
I  may  long  to  be  lazy  or  frivolous,  to  dance,  to  flirt  week 
in  and  out  at  house  parties  —  partly  because  I  now  enjoy 
that  supreme  form  of  egoism  known  as  self-respect,  partly 
because  the  spirit  of  the  times,  the  great  world-tides  urge 
me  on,  partly  because,  when  all  is  said  and  done,  work  fills 
up  your  time  more  satisfactorily  than  anything  else.  I 
had  exhausted  pleasure,  was  on  the  verge  of  satiety.  That 
would  have  been  hideous.  But  I  purpose  to  bluff  myself 
one  way  and  another  to  the  end  of  my  days.  I  am  con 
vinced  it  is  the  only  form  of  happiness." 

Julia  drank  all  this  in.  She  knew  that  although  Ishbel 
spoke  in  her  lightest  and  sweetest  tones,  she  uttered  the 
precise  truth,  and  that  she  was  deliberately  being  presented 
with  a  window  out  of  which  she  should  be  expected  to  look 
occasionally,  instead  of  remaining  smugly  within  the  con 
ventional  early  Victorian  walls  of  her  present  destiny.  Julia 
was  used  to  these  little  lessons  in  life  from  her  older  friends 
and  liked  them,  but  she  sighed,  nevertheless.  She  was 
proud  to  develop  so  much  more  quickly  than  most  young 
women  of  her  too  sheltered  type,  but  on  the  other  hand  she 
longed  at  times  for  youth  and  freedom  and  an  utter  in- 


THREE    POTTERS  157 

difference  to  the  serious  side  of  life.  For  the  moment  she 
regretted  her  reading,  wished  ardently  that  she  could  have 
been  a  girl  in  London  for  two  seasons.  Being  put  into 
training  for  a  duchess  at  the  age  of  eighteen  may  gratify 
the  vanity,  but,  given  certain  circumstances,  it  extracts  the 
juices  from  life. 

Ishbel,  as  if  she  had  received  a  flash  from  that  highly 
charged  brain,  leaned  over  and  kissed  her  impulsively. 
"Oh,  you  poor  little  duchess  !"  she  exclaimed. 

But  Julia  was  shy  of  demonstrations  and  asked  hastily : 

"How  is  Bridgit?  It  is  nearly  a  year  since  I  saw  her, 
and  she  only  sends  me  a  line  occasionally  like  a  telegram." 

"Not  as  happy  as  she  would  be  if  she  were  earning  her 
bread,  but  she  is  rapidly  finding  her  metier.  All  this  last 
year,  inspired  in  the  first  place  by  Nigel's  book,  she  has 
been  investigating  the  poor  and  the  poor  laws,  visiting 
settlements,  hospitals,  factories,  laundries  —  you  know  her 
energy  and  thoroughness.  The  result  is  that  she  is  close 
to  being  a  Socialist  —  of  an  intelligent  sort,  of  course  - 
pays  her  bills  as  soon  as  they  are  presented,  despises  charities, 
and  is  convinced  that  women  should  become  enfranchised 
and  have  full  control  of  the  poor  laws." 

"She  must  be  rather  terrifying  !" 

"She  has  succeeded  in  terrifying  Geoffrey,  and  I  fancy 
with  no  regrets.  He  is  having  a  tremendous  flirtation  with 
Molly  Cardiff  and  is  little  at  home." 

"And  Nigel?" 

"Still  on  a  Swiss  mountain  top,  writing  another  book. 
Of  course  he  is  in  love  with  you  still,  poor  dear  !" 

Julia  was  not  displeased,  but  replied  philosophically: 
"It's  well  he's  not  here,  for  I  should  want  to  talk  to  him, 
and  I  never  could.  Harold  is  insanely  jealous." 

"Oh,  that  will  wear  off.  They  are  all  like  that  at  first. 
Englishmen  of  our  class  are  not  provincial,  whatever  else 
they  may  be." 

But  as  Julia  followed  her  downstairs  to  try  on  the  newest 
models  in  hats,  she  felt  that  she  had  got  no  cheer  out  of 
the  last  observation.  She  had  a  forelxxling  that  Harold 
would  become  worse  instead  of  better. 


xvn 

IT  was  the  night  of  the  i$th  of  March.  Invitations 
had  been  sent  out  three  weeks  since  for  the  great  party, 
which  on  this  date  was  to  inaugurate  the  reopening  of 
Kingsborough  House.  The  footmen  had  been  put  into 
new  livery,  but  although  the  reception-rooms  on  the  first 
floor,  long  swathed  in  holland  and  cobwebs,  had  been 
aired,  cleaned,  and  polished,  Julia's  tentative  suggestion  that 
the  heavy  carpets,  curtains,  and  furniture  of  the  early 
Victorian  era  be  replaced  with,  the  more  enlightened  art  of 
to-day  was  received  with  a  haughty  and  uncomprehending 
stare.  Julia  had  not  returned  to  the  subject.  Banishing 
her  scruples,  she  threw  all  her  energies  and  taste  into  the 
replenishment  of  her  wardrobe.  As  Harold  had  announced 
in  terms  as  final  as  the  duke's  stare  that  he  would  take  his 
wife  to  no  dances,  where  other  men  would  have  the  right 
to  embrace  her,  she  had  confined  her  apocryphal  ex 
penditures  to  such  gowns  and  their  accessories  as  would  be 
needed  at  afternoon  and  evening  receptions,  luncheons, 
and  the  races.  The  dinner  gowns  of  her  first  trousseau, 
although  many  of  them  had  been  worn  at  the  house  parties, 
were  "smartened  up"  by  the  invaluable  Mrs.  Toner,  and 
looked  fresh  and  new. 

The  maid  had  been  dismissed  and  Julia  stood  before  the 
mirror  in  her  large  gas-lit  bedroom,  looking  herself  over 
carefully,  without  and  within.  She  had  sent  for  France, 
and  there  must  be  no  weak  points  in  her  courage. 

The  vision  in  the  mirror  alone  gave  her  courage  (being 
as  natural  as  a  human  being  can  be,  she  was  still  a  vain 
little  thing),  and  poised  her  spirit.  After  several  consulta 
tions  between  herself,  Ishbel,  and  the  greatest  French  dress 
maker  in  London,  it  had  been  decided  that  as  this  party 
would  be  her  real  introduction  to  society,  and  as  she  was 
little  more  than  a  girl  in  years,  her  gown  must  present  a 

158 


THREE   POTTERS  159 

certain  effect  of  simplicity.  Therefore  was  Julia  arrayed 
in  white  tulle  and  lace,  over  clinging  liberty  satin,  and 
embroidered  with  crystal  as  line  as  diamond  dust.  With  her 
tropical  white  skin  and  flame-colored  hair,  this  skilful 
costume  gave  her  a  curiously  elusive  and  spritelike  ap 
pearance.  She  wore  some  of  the  Kingsborough  jewels :  a 
diamond  tiara,  not  ridiculously  large,  and  several  ropes  of 
pearls.  Few  eyes  can  compete  with  the  brilliancy  of 
diamonds,  but  Julia's  did,  assisted  by  the  black  brows  and 
lashes  which  most  women  preferred  to  believe  were  artificial. 
She  was  not  an  imposing  figure,  for  her  height  was  only  five 
feet  three  and  a  half  in  her  French  slippers,  and  her  figure 
was  still  thin,  although  the  bones  of  her  neck  and  arms 
were  covered ;  but  as  France  entered  the  room  he  thought 
her  quite  the  loveliest  and  daintiest  creature  in  England. 

"  By  God  ! "  he  cried,  his  heavy  glassy  eyes  flashing.  "  You 
are  rippin' !  Never  saw  even  you  so  well  turned  out." 

He  had  rushed  forward,  but  Julia  waved  him  back. 

"You  mustn't  touch  me  when  I'm  got  up  for  the  public," 
she  said  imperiously.  "You  always  muss  my  hair,  and 
they  will  be  coming  in  half  an  hour.  I  sent  for  you  not  to  be 
admired,  but  because  I  have  something  to  say  to  you." 

"Say?"  repeated  France,  sulkily.  His  wife's  virginal 
coldness  was  one  of  her  profoundest  fascinations,  but  sub 
missive  she  should  be,  nevertheless.  "What  can  you  have 
to  say?" 

"I  merely  want  to  tell  you  the  cost  of  this  gown." 

"  What  do  you  mean  ?" 

"That  it  cost  a  hundred  pounds." 

"What  — what  - 

"Just  double  the  amount  you  gave  me.  And  the  rest 
of  my  wardrobe,  with  which  I  am  to  do  you  and  the  duke 
credit  this  season,  has  cost  twice  as  much  more." 

"What  in  hell  are  you  talking  about?"  France  tried 
to  thunder,  but  his  breath  was  so  short  that  he  could  only 
splutter.  "How  dare  you  - 

"You  never  pay  for  your  clothes  until  you  have  been  sum 
monsed  a  dozen  times,  why  should  I  ?" 


160  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"But  I  have  to  pay  in  the  end  !  How  dared  you?  I 
know  how  women  can  get  on  with  a  little  money.  Do  you 
think  I  don't  know  anything  about  'em  ?  Extravagant  as 
the  devil,  all  of  you,  but  able  to  do  on  half  what  it  costs  a 
man  to  turn  himself  out,  all  the  same.  What  are  maids,  for  ? 
Every  woman  could  make  her  own  clothes  if  she  tried.  I 
told  you  -  My  God  !  My  God  !  If  my  word  ain't  law  - 
a  hundred  pounds  !" 

He  was  waving  his  arms,  and  Julia  moved  out  of  their 
reach,  although  she  continued  to  look  him  in  the  eyes.  His 
were  bloodshot.  "I  shall  have  everything  I  want,  or 
need,  so  long  as  I  live  with  you,"  said  his  wife,  deliberately. 
"If  you  don't  want  to  pay  for  my  clothes  you  can  put  me 
out.  I  could  earn  my  living.  Ishbel  would  teach  me  to 
trim  hats." 

"You  — you  - 

France  sat  down,  his  mouth  hanging  open.  Then  with  a 
curious  instinctive  movement  he  covered  his  face  with  his 
hand.  When  he  removed  it,  his  face,  although  still  red, 
was  closed  and  hard,  and  his  eyes  shone  with  a  new  desire. 

"You've  got  a  will  of  your  own,  young  lady." 

"I  have!" 

"Well,  by  God,  I'll  break  it." 

"Try  it."     Julia  shook  out  her  shimmering  train. 

"Three  hundred  pounds  in  one  go  !" 

"  Your  income  is  two  thousand  a  year,  and  you  are  prac 
tically  at  no  expense." 

"It's  not  your  place  to  know  what  my  income  is,  nor  what 
I  do  with  it." 

"But  you  see  I  do." 

France  looked  down,  once  more  concealing  his  eyes.  It 
was  a  part  of  his  plan  to  show  himself  to  the  world  as  a 
devoted  husband,  to  accept  every  invitation,  save  those 
for  dances,  to  walk  with  his  wife  daily  in  the  park,  as  soon 
as  the  fine  weather  began  ;  in  a  word,  to  efface  his  past.  He 
inferred  that  Julia  had  guessed  somethingof  this,  and,  having 
the  whip  hand,  meant  to  use  it.  To  antagonize  her  would  be 
fatal.  He  longed  to  beat  her:  in  fact,  he  felt  a  curious  thrill 


THREE   POTTERS  161 

at  the  prospect ;  but  between  the  duke  and  the  world,  his 
hands,  for  the  present,  at  least,  might  as  well  be  pulp.  He 
was  amazed  and  bewildered  to  find  that  he  had  married 
something  more  than  an  exquisite  bit  of  youth  —  conversa 
tion  between  them  was  almost  unknown;  and  although 
it  would  be  amusing  to  break  her,  he  knew  that  he  must 
temporize  until  the  duke  died.  He  believed  that  this 
happy  event  must  occur  before  long,  as  the  duke,  fancying 
himself,  under  new  medical  advice,  stronger  than  he  had 
ever  been,  had  overtaxed  his  frail  constitution  during  the 
shooting  season,  and  complained  much  of  fatigue  since  his 
return  to  town.  "By  God  !"  he  thought,  "I'll  beat  her  the 
very  day  he  dies."  And,  although  subtlety  galled  his 
abnormal  vanity,  he  brought  out  in  a  fairly  amiable  tone : 

"Look  here,  old  girl,  you  mustn't  let  me  in  too  deep.  Re 
member  I'm  not  Kingsborough  yet.  It's  not  that  I  can't  pay 
these  three  hundred  pounds  —  although  the  truth  is,  I'm 
economizing  to  pay  off  old  debts,  many  of  them  debts  of 
honor  —  used  to  gamble  a  bit  when  I  was  in  the  navy. 
So,  don't  let  me  in  any  deeper,  and  when  the  old  boy 
chucks  it,  you  shall  have  all  you  can  spend." 

"Meanwhile,  I  wish  four  hundred  a  year,"  said  Julia, 
inexorably. 

"Oh,  I  say  !  These  things  should  last  you  for  two  years. 
I  know  women  - 

"You  haven't  introduced  them  to  me.  If  you  don't 
give  me  four  hundred  a  year  I'll  run  into  debt  for  that 
amount,  and  you  are  liable.  I  was  married  without  being 
consulted.  I  don't  love  you  and  never  shall,  but  I  submit 
to  your  demands,  because  it  is  my  destiny.  I  am  to  be  a 
duchess,  and  that  is  the  end  of  it.  Meanwhile,  I  shall 
get  everything  out  of  this  tiresome  life  there  is  in  it.  You 
and  my  mother  forced  me  into  it,  and  I  shall  have  com 
pensations.  I  shall  be  as  well  dressed  as  any  of  the  great 
ladies  I  am  to  associate  with,  many  of  whom  I  shall  one  day 
outrank.  I  shall  see  Ishbel  and  Bridgit  just  as  often  as 
I  choose,  and  I  shall  buy  all  the  books  I  want.  I  am 
going  to  job  a  brougham  - 


162  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"No!     Not  much!" 

"  I  am  going  to  job  a  brougham,  and  if  you  forbid  it, 
there  will  be  trouble  with  Kingsborough.  From  something 
he  said  the  other  day  I  know  he  assumes  that  I  have  one 
already.  He  knows  you  can  afford  it.  He  uses  that  ark 
in  the  mews,  and  I  don't  want  it,  anyhow.  For  a  long  time 
I  thought  I  never  should  speak  to  you  on  the  subject  of 
money  again ;  you  hurt  me  so  that  time  I  asked  for  a  few 
books ;  but  I  have  thought  it  out,  and  the  result  is  this : 
while  I  am  determined  to  have  what  I  need  without  asking 
yo'i,  I  think  it  only  fair  to  warn  you.  Besides,  I  should 
grow  nervous  waiting  for  the  bills  to  come  in,  for  row  after 
row." 

"You  are  damned  hard  for  a  young  'un." 

"  I  am  not  hard.  I  have  made  up  my  mind.  That  is  all 
there  is  to  it." 

France's  face  convulsed  with  passion,  but  once  more  he 
controlled  himself,  although  his  hands  worked. 

"If  I  give  you  four  hundred  a  year,  will  you  promise  to 
let  me  in  for  no  more,  and  to  pay  for  the  brougham  ?  " 

"I'll  not  let  you  in  for  more,  but  you  shall  pay  for  the 
brougham." 

"By  God  !  You  look  like  an  arum  lily  standing  there, 
and  you  are  a  little  red-headed  she-devil !  This  is  the  first 
time  any  woman  has  ever  got  the  best  of  me.  I've  always 
treated  'em  like  cats." 

He  rushed  out  of  the  room,  afraid  to  trust  himself  further, 
and  Julia,  horrified  at  life,  while  experiencing  a  certain  zest 
at  having  ground  her  legal  master  under  her  heel  and 
watched  him  squirm,  marched  out  and  took  her  place  beside 
the  duke  and  Lady  Arabella  Torrence  at  the  head  of  the 
grand  staircase. 


XVIII 

JULIA'S  new  French  slippers  pinched,  and  her  tiara  pressed 
on  certain  nerves  of  her  head,  as  the  more  humble  hat  pin 
has  been  known  to  do.  The  procession  up  the  staircase 
seemed  endless.  To  Julia  it  looked  like  a  river  of  jewels ; 
she  had  ceased  to  know  or  care  who  were  the  mere  women 
beneath  it.  Not  all  of  the  men  were  foils.  Royalty,  the 
entire  cabinet,  and  the  diplomatic  corps  were  present; 
gorgeous  uniforms,  sashes,  and  orders  saved  many  men  from 
being  mistaken  for  waiters. 

As  the  first  guests  were  ascending,  Julia  had  turned  to 
the  duke  and  said  sweetly :  - 

"I  have  asked  Ishbel  and  Bridgit,  and  they  have  prom 
ised  to  come." 

"  You  have  what  ?  "  asked  the  duke,  his  dull  eyes  glowing. 

"They  were  my  first  friends  in  England,  and  as  I  am  your 
hostess,  it  occurred  to  me  that  I  had  the  right  to  issue  a  few 
invitations  on  my  own  account.  I  merely  mention  it,  that 
you  may  not  be  betrayed  by  surprise  when  you  see  them." 

"You  have  taken  a  purely  feminine  advantage  — waiting 
until  this  moment  to  tell  me  — when  I  can  do  nothing  !' 
It  was  long  since  the  duke  had  felt  himself  on  fire   with 
passion. 

"Of  course  we  all  take  our  advantages  where  we  can,  and 
are  as  deceitful  as  possible,"  said  Julia,  smiling  into  his 
snapping  eyes.  "Those  are  primal  weapons,  and  you  gave 
them  to  us.  Here  come  some  terribly  important  people." 

The  duke  had  been  forced  to  swallow  his  wrath,  and,  in 
a  few  moments,  forgot  it  in  the  sudden  stream  of  arrivals. 
After  a  time  fatigue  overcame  him  and  he  slipped  away, 
leaving  Julia  alone  with  Lady  Arabella  (yellow  and  bony 
in  white  embossed  velvet  and  rubies).  France  was  making 
himself  agreeable  to  the  dowagers.  The  interview  with  his 

163 


164  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

wife  had  inspired  him  with  a  longing  to  go  out  and  entice 
some  wretch  of  the  streets  to  a  hiding-place,  where  he  could 
beat  her  to  a  jelly,  but  the  gall  in  his  blood  did  not  affect 
his  shrewd  cunning  brain,  which  steadily  pursued  its  object. 
To-night  was  his  first  opportunity  to  be  gallant  to  women, 
politics  and  sport  having  claimed  him  since  his  illness; 
and  after  a  few  well-turned  compliments,  he  talked  of  noth 
ing  but  the  beauty  and  virtues  of  his  wife.  Perhaps  the 
duke  was  the  only  human  being  who  really  liked  him,  for, 
without  magnetism  or  charm  of  any  sort,  he  left  both  men 
and  women  cold  where  he  did  not  repel ;  but  to-night  he 
acquitted  himself  so  creditably  that  several  mothers  thought 
upon  their  loss  with  regret. 

Julia's  mind  was  beginning  to  play  her  strange  tricks. 
Carlyle's  "  French  Revolution  "  had  been  among  the  books 
at  Bosquith,  and  its  style  had  so  fascinated  her  that  she  had 
read  it  twice.  It  so  happened  that  a  number  of  extremely 
handsome  women  with  white  hair  honored  the  Kingsborough 
ball  to-night.  Some  were  young.  All  were  gorgeously  be 
decked.  The  intense  hard  glitter  of  diamonds  dissolved 
into  mist,  took  on  fantastic  shapes:  graceful  powdered 
heads,  glittering  with  jewels,  on  the  top  of  pikes,  warm 
pampered  bodies  blocking  the  stairs. 

It  was  not  so  much  that  Julia's  mind  was  awakening  to 
the  problem  of  the  poor,  the  menace  of  the  unemployed  and 
the  underpaid  ;  in  truth,  she  generally  shuddered  and  tXirned 
away  when  Bridgit  and  Ishbel  discussed  the  subject ;  but 
these  spectacular  women  on  the  grand  staircase  of  Kings- 
borough  House  seemed  so  ripe  !  They  looked  so  useless, 
so  languidly  magnificent,  so  overbred,  so  close  to  the  apothe 
osis  of  their  destiny,  that  —  again  her  fancy  veered  —  Julia 
half  expected  to  see  a  row  of  footlights  behind  them  ;  then 
a  sudden  shifting  of  scenery,  and  the  tumbrel  and  guillotine. 
The  time  came  when  Julia  knew  many  of  them  well  enough  to 
deal  out  a  greater  measure  of  justice  than  the  outsider  that 
hurls  the  word  "parasite"  at  every  woman  fortunate  enough 
to  possess  what  the  poor  all  want  —  wealth.  She  learned 
that  many  of  them  worked  harder  for  their  political  hus- 


THREE   POTTERS  165 

bands  than  an  army  of  secretaries,  that  others  rose,  during 
the  season,  at  an  hour  when  they  fain  would  have  slept  off 
the  fatigue  of  the  day  before,  in  order  to  get  through  a  mass 
of  correspondence  relating  to  the  particular  problem,  polit- 
icaJ,  social,  or  economic,  they  were  striving  to  solve.  Many 
of  these  women  were  mothers  to  their  tenantry,  watching 
over  the  growth  and  education  of  every  girl  and  boy  born 
on  their  estates.  Others  went  daily  to  settlements,  some 
to  districts  so  abandoned  as  to  be  practically  hopeless,  and 
requiring  a  mettle  far  higher  than  the  mere  soldier  needs 
when  racing  his  fellows  to  battle.  Some  worked  with 
churches,  others  with  societies,  others  alone  ;  nearly  all  were 
interested  in  one  charity  or  another,  many  trying  to  feel 
their  way  through  the  obvious  method  of  relief  to  some 
cause  they  could  grapple  with,  since  the  power  to  legislate 
was  forbidden  them.  Scarcely  one  of  those  women,  dressed 
from  Paris,  weighted  down  with  jewels  old  and  new,  but 
faced  the  serious  side  of  life  at  some  hour  during  the  twenty- 
four  ;  but  although  Julia  came  to  know  this,  the  impression 
of  the  terrible  immaturity  of  civilization,  caused  by  the 
blind  vanity  and  selfishness  of  human  nature  at  the  outset, 
and  persisted  in  through  the  centuries  in  spite  of  lessons 
written  in  blood,  and  of  the  gross  unfairness  of  life,  never  left 
her.  If  she  was  in  the  toils  of  youth  at  present,  and  far 
more  interested  in  herself  than  in  the  world  and  its  problems, 
the  mere  fact  that  these  blue  marsh  lights  could  dance  across 
her  mind  occasionally,  would  have  satisfied  her  more  ad 
vanced  friends  that  when  the  awakening  came  it  would  be 
sudden  and  final. 

But  not  to-night.  Her  visions  fled.  She  looked  down 
into  a  pair  of  dark  satiric  eyes,  and  her  own  flashed  back 
a  more  than  courteous  welcome.  Ishbel  had. come  some 
time  since,  and  after  piloting  the  delighted  Mr.  Jones  up 
and  down  for  half  an  hour  (wearing  his  diamonds  and 
looking  the  radiant  wife),  had  deposited  him  between  two  of 
the  haughty  dowagers  he  loved,  and  fluttered  off  with  her 
court.  But  Bridgit  was  late.  She  had  demurred  at  coming 
at  all,  being  "sick  of  the  game"  ;  but  had  yielded  to  Julia's 


i66  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

importunities,  partly  to  "  please  the  child,"  partly  because 
her  mischievous  soul  suspected  that  the  invitation  did  not 
emanate  from  headquarters,  and  delighted  in  giving  the 
duke  "a  turn."  She  might  be  well  on  the  road  to  Socialism, 
and  have  come  to  the  end  of  her  capacity  for  mere  pleasure, 
but  she  had  not  lost  her  sense  of  humor;  and  inborn  arro 
gance  of  class  never  dies,  no  matter  how  amenable  the 
brain  to  reason,  and  to  a  sincere  democracy  which  manifests 
itself  so  effectively  in  manner.  Bridgit's  paternal  grand 
father  was  a  duke  with  three  more  quarterings  to  his  credit 
than  Kingsborough's,  ancestral  performances  known  to 
every  student  of  history,  and  two  strains  of  royal  blood 
with  and  without  the  bend  sinister;  therefore,  did  Mrs. 
Herbert  feel  that  she  was  doing  the  old  pudding  an  honor 
in  coming  to  his  musty  barrack  whether  invited  or  not. 
And,  automatically  no  doubt,  she  had  attired  herself  in 
the  fashion  of  her  class,  of  the  women  in  whose  company 
she  was  to  spend  a  night  once  more.  She  wore  a  gown  of 
gold  colored  brocade  opening  over  a  round  skirt  of  rose 
point.  Rising  out  of  the  coils  of  her  wiry  black  hair  was 
an  all-round  crown  of  diamonds,  and  on  her  neck,  falling 
to  the  soft  lace  of  her  corsage,  was  a  chain  of  diamonds  and 
pear-shaped  pearls.  With  her  fine  upstanding  figure,  her 
towering  height,  and  flashing  black  eyes,  she  might  make 
the  most  compelling  figure  imaginable  at  the  head  of  a  rebel 
army  singing  the  Marseillaise,  but  to-night  there  was  no 
more  stately  dame  in  Kingsborough  House. 

Julia,  somewhat  in  the  fashion  of  royalty,  passed  on  the 
people  separating  them,  and  grasped  Bridgit's  hand,  re 
vivified  by  the  sight  of  a  dear  and  familiar  face. 

"Oh,  I'm  so  glad,"  she  cried,  indifferent  to  stares  and  the 
displeasure jof  Lady  Arabella.  "And  they  must  nearly  all 
have  come.  Do  wait  for  me  - 

She  stopped  short.  She  had  had  eyes  only  for  Bridgit. 
Mechanically  they  had  travelled  on  to  Bridgit's  escort. 
The  man  standing  with  his  hand  outstretched  was  Nigel 
Herbert. 

"He  got  home  this  afternoon,"  said  Mrs.  Herbert,  cas- 


THREE   POTTERS  167 

ually.     "  I  knew  you  would  like  to  see  him,  so  I  brought  him 
on.     How  do,  Lady  Arabella  ?    Always  loved  you  in  rubies." 

"Huh  !"  said  Lady  Arabella.  She  would  have  cut  this 
dangerous  apostate  if  she  had  been  equal  to  the  effort ;  but 
to  freeze  that  bright  powerful  gaze,  by  no  means  without 
malice,  was  beyond  her  capacity,  so  she  merely  sniffed  and 
advised  her  to  seek  the  duke,  who  would  be  as  delighted  as 
herself  to  welcome  Mrs.  Herbert  to  Kingsborough  House. 
She  was  of  the  many  that  blundered  over  sarcasm,  and  her 
soul  shivered  under  the  sweetness  of  Bridgit's  acceptance. 

Meanwhile  Julia  was  exclaiming  to  Nigel :  - 

"Oh,  but  I  am  glad  to  see  you  !  And  do  go  to  the  blue 
room  and  wait  for  me.  It's  downstairs  behind  the  library." 

Nigel's  face  had  flushed,  then  turned  pale ;  the  first  mo 
ment  of  the  renewal  of  their  acquaintance  had  been  an 
awkward  one  for  him.  It  was  with  some  difficulty  that  he 
had  been  persuaded  to  come  at  all.  For  many  reasons  he 
had  wished  never  to  meet  her  again,  and  had  returned  to 
England  only  because  it  was  necessary  to  see  his  book 
through  the  press;  a  melancholy  experience  with  the  last 
having  lost  him  his  faith  in  proof-readers  forever. 

But  when  he  saw  the  welcome  in  those  big  shining  eyes, 
the  happy  smile  on  those  young  parted  lips,  he  forgot  even 
the  subtle  changes  he  had  noted  in  her  face,  while  still  un 
observed,  and  he  flushed  again,  his  heart  beat  rapidly. 
"Does  she  care?"  he  thought  wildly.  "Not  now!  Not 
now  !  —  But  - 

Julia  was  staring  with  almost  childish  delight  at  the  frank 
handsome  face  of  her  first  friend  in  England.  She  forgot 
the  romantic  hour  at  Bosquith,  forgot  that  she  had  sat  up 
all  night  to  contrive  an  extinguisher  for  the  embarrassing 
passion  of  this  misguided  young  man,  remembered  only 
that  here  was  a  real  friend;  moreover,  one  possessing  that 
magnet  of  sex  lacking  in  Bridgit  and  Ishbel  (such  being 
the  cross  currents  in  her  still  imperfect  soul),  so  congenial 
that  she  could  have  flung  her  arms  about  him  at  the  head 
of  the  grand  staircase  of  Kingsborough  House.  She  had 
never  met  any  one  she  liked  half  as  well. 


i68  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

He  caught  his  breath  sharply,  whether  in  relief  or  dis 
illusion,  he  did  not  pretend  to  guess  at  this  moment. 

"  I'll  wait  for  you,"  he  said,  and  made  way  for  the  next 
arrivals. 

Some  ten  minutes  later  Julia  turned  to  Lady  Arabella. 

"They  are  beginning  to  straggle,"  she  said.  "If  you 
don't  mind  I  won't  stay  any  longer." 

"I  do  mind,"  severely.  "And  your  place  is  here,  child 
as  you  are." 

"I  can't  see  why.  .  .  .  More  guests.  .  .  .  Who  cares 
about  a  child  ?  And  you  are  vastly  more  important." 

"You   have   acquitted   yourself   very   creditably.  .  .  . 
Besides,  people  are  curious  to  see  you,  and  nobody  cares 
for  an  old  thing  like  me." 

"Half  of  them  are  still  glowing  with  the  honor  of  having 
shaken  hands  with  you  —  you  go  out  so  seldom.  .  .  .  Be 
sides,  my  slippers  pinch.  I  want  to  put  on  an  old  pair." 

"I  always  wear  slippers  a  size  too  large  and  made  by  a 
surgical  shoemaker,  on  occasions  like  this.  You  must  do 
the  same.  I  should  have  told  you." 

"I'll  order  a  pair  to-morrow,  but  that  doesn't  do  me  any 
good  now." 

"Very  well.     Run  along." 


XIX 

THE  blue  room,  furnished  by  the  late  duchess,  and  undis 
turbed  by  her  loyal  son,  was  of  that  sickly  azure  hue  once 
affected  by  pale  blondes.  The  walls  were  further  ornamented 
by  bits  of  sentimental  tapestry,  the  chair  backs  with  anti 
macassars,  stitched  and  woven  by  her  Grace's  own  white 
hands.  There  was  an  entire  sofa,— but  why  harrow  the 
soul  of  the  reader,  even  as  Nigel's  soul  should  have  been 
harrowed  as  he  sat  with  closed  eyes  awaiting  Julia  ?  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  he  forgot  the  hideous  room  at  once,  and,  hero 
ically  dismissing  Julia  from  his  mind  that  he  might  be  quite 
composed  when  she  entered,  dwelt  with  satisfaction  upon 
his  interview  with  his  father  a  few  hours  earlier.  That 
eminently  practical  peer  had  cast  him  off  when  he  fled  from 
England,  leaving  a  curt  note  to  announce  his  intention  to 
devote  himself  to  the  art  of  fiction.  He  might  have  starved 
after  the  fashion  of  more  orthodox  bidders  for  immortality, 
had  it  not  been  for  a  small  personal  annuity  which  enabled 
him  to  live  comfortably  in  Switzerland  while  engrossed  in 
his  book.  It  was  during  this  period,  living  in  a  mountain 
inn,  without  luxuries,  paternal  menace  and  thwarted  pas 
sion  behind  him,  that  Nigel  learned  the  profoundest  lesson 
art  teaches:  its  power  to  pulverize  the  common  human 
emotions  and  desires.  Only  the  true  artist,  of  course,  gets 
the  message,  is  capable  of  immolation  conscious  or  other 
wise,  of  elevating  art  above  life. 

Nigel  was  a  born  artist  and  had  in  him  the  makings  of  a 
great  one.  Nevertheless,  the  discovery  that  nothing  really 
mattered  but  his  work,  that  only  his  characters  lived,  and 
personal  memories  were  dim,  not  only  surprised,  but  deeply 
mortified  him.  Being  a  man,  as  ready  as  the  next  to  love,  and 
to  fight  and  die  for  his  country,  it  alarmed  him  to  discover 
that  he  carried  within  him  a  possible  rival  to  his  manhood, 

169 


1 7o  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

the  highest  attribute,  etc.  But  he  was  not  long  consoling 
himself.  He  progressed  to  rapture  over  the  discovery, 
ended  by  being  humbly  grateful.  He  was  a  man  all  right, 
that  needn't  worry  him ;  he  was  willing,  therefore,  to  admit 
that  to  be  an  artist  was  a  greater  endowment  still.  And 
it  gave  him  a  sense  of  independence,  of  liberty,  of  superior 
ity,  to  which  the  air  of  the  high  Alps  contributed  little  or 
nothing. 

Then  came  the  intoxication  of  success,  of  that  immediate 
recognition  so  many  have  hungered  for  in  vain.  Lest  his 
head  be  turned  and  his  art  suffer,  he  went  on  a  walking  trip 
through  Germany,  Italy,  and  France,  sleeping  in  inns  and 
receiving  neither  letters  nor  newspapers.  Nor  did  he  meet 
any  one  he  knew.  He  even  avoided  Englishmen  lest  he 
prove  himself  unable  to  resist  the  temptation  to  lead  the 
conversation  round  to  his  book.  Not  only  was  he  a  sincere 
artist,  but  he  blindly  clung  to  this  new  and  friendly  magi 
cian  that  made  the  world  so  agreeably  little. 

When  he  returned  to  his  eyrie,  full  of  his  new  book,  he 
found  a  letter  from  his  practical  papa,  forgiving  him,  since 
success  had  attended  his  dereliction,  and  enclosing  a  check. 
Nigel  responded  amiably,  then  flung  himself  once  more  at 
his  desk,  anxious  to  learn  if  the  embryonic  book  contained 
the  same  brand  of  enchantment  as  the  first :  the  vision  of 
Julia  had  haunted  his  lonely  footsteps.  It  did.  Julia  fled. 
He  forgot  his  family,  himself,  his  success.  Once  more  he 
was  pure  artist,  therefore  entirely  happy. 

But  he  was  still  young.  The  second  book  had  now  gone 
from  him.  Art  slept.  As  he  heard  the  rustle  of  a  train, 
the  hearty  welcome,  the  proud  words  of  his  father,  deserted 
his  memory,  his  heart  almost  stopped.  Nevertheless,  as 
he  rose  to  greet  Julia  his  face  was  expressionless  of  all  but 
suave  languid  politeness.  He,  too,  "fell  back  on  tech 
nique."  And  this  easily  adjusted  armor  of  the  aristocrat 
is  the  best  of  his  assets.  When  a  man  smiles  in  the  face  of 
death,  without  bravado,  it  merely  means  that  he  is  well 
bred.  His  heart  may  be  water. 

Nigel  was  intensely  irritated  with  himself  for  having  been 


THREE   POTTERS  171 

betrayed  into  something  like  emotion  at  the  head  of  the 
stair,  and  he  spoke  with  a  slight  drawl  as  he  shook  Julia's 
hand. 

"Awfully  good  to  see  you,"  he  remarked.  "You  look 
rippin',  too.  Will  you  sit  here?" 

"Let  me  get  this  crown  off.  It  weighs  tons."  Julia 
unfastened  the  Kingsborough  diamonds  and  deposited  them 
irreverently  in  a  chair,  then  took  the  one  Nigel  offered. 
"I'd  have  left  it  upstairs,  but  I  suppose  I  shall  have  to  walk 
about  later.  I  do  hope  I  shan't  have  to  wear  it  often. 
Thank  heaven,  I'm  not  a  duchess  yet !" 

Nigel  knew  the  pitfalls  in  that  engaging  frankness  and 
steeled  himself. 

"Oh,  you'll  like  it  when  the  time  comes,"  he  said  indiffer 
ently.  "  How's  the  duke  ?  " 

The  duke  had  always  been  such  a  negligible  quantity, 
both  physically  and  socially,  that  no  one  felt  self-conscious 
in  referring  to  his  demise  a  trifle  earlier  than  the  conven 
tions  prescribed.  Julia  certainly  felt  no  false  shame  as 
she  replied :  — 

"Better  —  rather.  He  shot,  and  even  rode  to  hounds 
now  and  again.  He's  looked  a  bit  off  his  feed  since  our 
return  to  town,  and  I  know  Harold  believes  he's  not  going 
to  live  much  longer ;  but  that's  because  he's  made  up  his 
mind  that  he's  waited  long  enough.  I  hope  Kingsborough '11 
brace  up.  Of  course  I  came  to  England  prepared  to  have 
him  die  at  once,  but,  somehow,  you  can't  live  in  the  house 
with  a  man  and  wish  him  dead  —  at  least,  I  can't.  Be 
sides,  as  I  said,  I'm  in  no  hurry.  In  fact,  I  prefer  it  this 
way." 

A  shadow  passed  over  her  face,  and  Nigel  asked  with  less 
languor :- 

"Why?" 

"Oh  —  I  think  it  a  good  thing  for  a  man  to  have  a  mental 
occupation,  and  waiting  for  dead  men's  shoes  is  an  occupa 
tion  —  rather  !  Ra-///rr,  as  the  boys  say.  I  don't  know 
Harold  so  awfully  well,  but  I  have  an  idea  he  would  be  lost 
—  and  quite  impossible  —  if  he  couldn't  scheme  about  some- 


172  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

thing.  He's  the  sort  of  man  that  always  has  a  grievance, 
loves  to  think  himself  abused  if  only  because  it  gives  him 
an  excuse  to  plot  and  imagine  himself  getting  the  better  of 
somebody.  Besides  —  this  is  more  like  playing  with  life. 
The  real  thing  must  be  full  of  responsibilities  that  don't 
mean  so  much,  after  all.  Now  —  sometimes  —  I  can  fancy 
I  am  a  girl,  masquerading,  and  I  can  do  all  sorts  of  things 
I  couldn't  do  if  I  were  of  any  importance." 

"And  just  how  much  of  a  girl  do  you  feel  ?  "  he  asked  with 
bitter  emphasis. 

It  was  not  possible  for  Julia  to  turn  any  whiter  than  she 
was  at  all  times,  but  her  expressive  eyes  grew  so  dark  that 
they  deepened  the  whiteness  to  pallor.  For  a  moment 
she  looked  older,  and,  swiftly  as  it  passed,  Nigel  detected 
an  expression  of  fear  and  horror  in  the  gaze  that  no  longer 
met  his,  but  looked  beyond.  He  caught  both  arms  of  his 
chair,  and  held  his  breath.  But  in  an  instant  it  was  as  if 
a  hard  little  hand  had  rammed  memory  down  into  the 
depths  of  consciousness  and  bolted  a  lid  above  it.  Julia's 
eyes  flashed  back  to  his,  full  of  mischievous  gayety. 

"Now  don't  indulge  in  romantic  fancies  about  me,"  she 
said.  "If  I  proclaimed  from  the  housetops  that  I  don't 
love  my  husband,  that  I  was  married  by  my  mother,  no 
one  would  pay  the  least  attention.  Everybody  knows  it 
and  nobody  cares.  What  is  done  is  done.  I  have  a  philo 
sophical  nature  myself.  Remember  that  my  horoscope 
was  cast  three  times.  And  I  have  my  compensations." 

"What  are  your  compensations?" 

"Oh,  books,  my  best  friends  —  you  among  them  !  - 
a  certain  freedom  I  find  here  in  London,  and  mean  to  have 
more  of,  and  clothes  !  clothes  !  You  have  no  idea  what 
pretty  frocks  I  have.  That  isn't  all.  It's  great  fun  to  get 
the  best  of  Harold  —  to  give  him  another  grievance  !  But 
I  do  get  the  best  of  him  —  and  of  the  duke,  too,  occasionally. 
There's  a  curious  satisfaction  in  it  - 

"Be  careful !     You'll  be  hard,  first  thing  you  know." 

"The  harder  women  are,  the  happier  they  are,  I  fancy. 
A  sort  of  fine  steel  armor  that  you  could  hide  in  your  hand 


THREE   POTTERS  173 

but  that  covers  you  from  head  to  foot.  I've  used  my  eyes 
these  last  two  years.  That  is  all  that  keeps  most  women 
from  being  ground  to  powder.  One  can  try  to  keep  soft 
inside,  you  know." 

"There's  one  thing  I  don't  know  —  what  you  are  driving 
at.  I  can't  make  out  whether  you  are  changed  altogether, 
or  are  the  same  delicious  child,  or  if  you  are  trying  to  keep 
your  old  personality  intact,  while  forced  to  admit  to  part 
nership  an  ego  you  have  manufactured  in  self-defence. 
One  moment  you  look  wise,  almost  hard,  the  next  - 

"I  refuse  to  be  stuck  on  a  pin  in  your  psychological  cab 
inet.  But  I  suppose  you've  got  us  all  there.  Herbert 
Spencer  says  - 

"Oh,  for  God's  sake,  don't  become  a  clever  woman! 
Whatever  - 

"  Why  not  ?  Don't  you  fancy  that  would  be  a  compensa 
tion?" 

"  You  clever  !     It  would  be  too  awful ! " 

"You  talk  like  Mr.  Jones." 

"Hang  Mr.  Jones.  Ishbel  was  entirely  right;  and  she 
is  one  of  the  few  women  on  this  earth  that  can  be  clever, 
as  deep  as  the  pit,  and  never  let  a  man  find  it  out.  But 
you  !  You  are  too  straightforward  and  honest.  Not  that 
Ishbel  isn't  honest ;  she's  a  brick  ;  but  she  has  a  special 
talent  —  possibly  it  lies  in  her  coquetry.  You  have  little 
or  no  coquetry.  You  are  in  a  state  of  flux  at  present,  and 
if  you  decide  for  the  second  ego,  if  you  become  hard  and 
clever,  you  never  could  disguise  it.  So  beware,  or  you'll 
not  be  able  to  love  and  be  happy  when  your  time  comes." 

"You  mean  to  make  some  man  happy  !" 

"What  is  the  difference?" 

"Oh,  lots.  I  try  not  to  think.  I  want  to  remain  youn% 
as  long  as  I  can.  But  I  can't  help  observing  that  men  like 
geese,  —  what  they  call  feminine  women.  I  suppose  you 
mean  that  clever  women  find  too  many  other  resources, 
and  therefore  are  independent  of  men.  Ergo,  they  don't 
make  men  happy." 

Nigel  colored.     "  Something  of  that  sort." 


I74  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"I  shouldn't  have  thought  it  of  you.  Fancy  your  being 
just  the  ordinary  male,  after  all." 

"Let  iis  drop  generalities  and  my  humble  self.  I  am 
thinking  of  you.  We  don't  live  in  a  moral  world  or  age. 
Like  all  women  you  will,  sooner  ar  later,  demand  happiness 
as  your  right.  In  other  words,  you  will  wake  up  some  day 
and  want  love.  Then  you  will  have  lost  the  power  to  charm. 
You  would  never  be  content  with  a  fool,  and  clever  men 
rarely  love  clever  women  —  not  with  their  eyes  open.  You 
are  quite  right  as  you  are.  Enjoy  life.  Let  its  problems 
alone." 

This  impassioned  plea  for  her  youth  left  him  almost 
breathless.  For  the  moment  he  was  not  conscious  of  loving 
her  himself,  of  pleading  for  his  own  future  before  it  was  too 
late.  His  languid  dignity  had  retired  from  the  field ;  he 
felt  only  that  he  had  arrived  in  time  to  avert  a  tragedy,  and 
so  impersonal  that  his  chest  lifted  slightly.  The  next  mo 
ment  he  was  gasping  under  a  douche  of  cold  water. 

Julia  had  thrown  her  head  back  and  was  looking  at  him 
with  softly  shining  eyes,  her  lashes  half  covering,  and  filling 
them  with  little  black  lines. 

"I'll  tell  you  a  secret,"  she  whispered.  "I've  never  told 
any  one.  I'm  —  I'm  in  love." 

"What!" 

"You'll  never  breathe  it?" 

"Who  — who  - 

"It's  a  man  I've  never  seen." 

"How can  you  love  a  man  you've  never  seen  ?  What  a 
baby  you  are!" 

"I  didn't  say  I  loved;  I  said  I  was  in  love.  And  a  man 
I've  never  seen  is  the  only  sort  I  could  go  that  far  with. 
I  hate  every  man  I  know,  simply  because  he  is  a  man ;  and 
I  never  want  really  to  meet,  even  to  see,  this  one.  But  it's 
great  fun  to  be  in  love  with  him,  to  live  in  an  inner  world  of 
one's  own." 

"Oh  !"     Once  more  Nigel  writhed  with  jealousy. 

"And  that  isn't  all."  Julia's  eyes  grew  even  more  bur 
dened  with  dreams.  "When  I  have  to  be  kissed-  At 


THREE   POTTERS  175 

first  I  just  set  my  teeth  -       Now  I  shut  my  eyes  and 
imagine  it's  the  other." 

Nigel  stood  up.     His  face  was  white.     His  hands  shook. 

"And  who,  may  I  ask,  is  this  fortunate  person  ?" 

"I  don't  think  I  can  tell  you  that." 

"  You  shall  tell  me.  I  have  some  rights.  I  was  your  first 
friend,  and  I  loved  you  myself." 

Julia  looked  at  him  out  of  the  corner  of  her  eye.  He  had 
used  the  past  tense,  but  he  looked  more  like  the  present. 

"I  never  thought  I  could  breathe  his  name,"  she  whis 
pered.  "But  I  can  tell  you.  It's  Cecil  Rhodes." 

"Rhodes?     Upon   my  word,   you   have  good   taste!' 
Then  he  burst  into  irrepressible  laughter,  and  threw  himself 
back  in  his  chair. 

"Oh,  what  a  kid  you  are!  What  a  baby!  And  I 
thought  you  were  on  the  road  to  become  a  clever  woman." 

Julia  smiled  mysteriously  and  picked  up  her  crown.  Her 
voice  and  eyes  were  more  ingenuous  than  ever.  "I  told 
you,  partly  because  you  are  my  only  man  friend,  the  only 
man  I  don't  hate,  and  partly  because  you  would  have  made 
love  to  me  yourself  in  another  minute.  But  if  you  tell 
Bridgit  or  Ishbel  - 

" Never!"  Once  more  Nigel  laughed  until  the  tears 
blotted  his  vision. 

"Now  I  must  go  out  and  walk  about  and  try  to  look  like 
a  duchess  in  a  semitransparent  shell.  Will  you  give  me 
your  arm?" 


XX 

A  WEEK  later,  Julia,  who  had  gone  to  bed  early,  woke  up 
suddenly  at  midnight.  For  a  moment  she  lay  wondering 
what  had  awakened  her,  used  as  she  was  to  the  long  un 
broken  sleep  of  youth.  She  became  conscious  of  a  steady 
rhythmical  sound  in  the  next  room,  quite  different  from  the 
prosaic  music  to  which  she  was  accustomed.  When  she 
realized  that  it  was  her  husband  pacing  back  and  forth, 
back  and  forth,  like  a  captured  beast  of  the  forest,  she  trem 
bled  for  a  moment,  then  invoked  her  nerve,  slipped  on  a 
dressing-gown,  and  opened  the  door. 

The  lights  were  blazing.  France,  his  coat  off,  his  hair  on 
end,  was  pacing  up  the  room  as  she  entered,  and  when  he 
reached  the  wall,  he  flung  his  hands  against  it  as  if  to  push 
it  outward.  Then  he  turned  and  saw  his  wife.  His  eyes 
were  bloodshot. 

"  Go  back  to  bed,"  he  said  thickly.      "  I  don't  want  you." 

"What  do  you  want?"  Julia  walked  toward  him,  fear 
lost  in  her  curiosity.  "  What  is  the  matter,  Harold  ?  Are 
you  ill  ?  If  you  are,  I  must  take  care  of  you." 

He  stared  at  her  for  a  moment.  There  were  times  when 
he  hated  her,  others  when  he  was  quite  mad  about  her; 
during  the  intervals  of  varying  length  he  did  not  think  about 
her  at  all.  To-night  he  suddenly  experienced  a  new  sen 
sation.  He  needed  a  friend  badly,  and  it  was  her  business 
to  fill  any  office  he  chose  to  impose  upon  her. 

"Look  here,"  he  said.     "Would  you  do  me  a  good  turn  ?" 

"Why,  of  course." 

"  And  use  all  the  brains  you've  got  and  hold  your  tongue  ?  " 

"Try  me." 

"Think  you  could  fool  Kingsborough  ? " 

"Oh,  quite  easily." 

176 


THREE   POTTERS  i?7 

"Well,  it's  this:  I've  got  to  get  away  for  a  time  —  out 
of  this.     I  ain't  a  child,  ain't  used  to  walkin'  a  straight  line. 
Never  had  so  many  rules  to  live  by  since  I  was  a  small  boy. 
Navy  was  nothin'  to  it  —  and  two  years  !     Two  years^  - 
He  clutched  his  hair  with  both  hands  and  shouted : 
got  to  get  away  for  a  bit !     Do  you  hear  ?     Got  to  get 
away !    Ain't  used  -  .        f> 

"  Do  you  mean  that  you  want  to  go  away  and  drink  t 

France's  jaw  fell.     He  took  a  step  forward. 

"What  d'you  mean  ?    Who's  ever  said  - 

"No  one  in  particular.     But  one  learns  a  good  deal  in 
two  years.     Didn't  you  used  to  drink  now  and  again  - 
disappear  - 

"What  if  I  did  ?     I'll  wring  your  neck  if  you  peach  - 

"  I  haven't  the  least  idea  of  telling  any  one.  It  is  the  sort 
of  family  secret  one  doesn't  share.  Where  do  you  intend 

to  go?" 

"I'd  hardly  thought  — it  doesn't  matter.  How  can  J 
fool  him  ?  If  he  found  me  out,  he'd  chuck  me,  cut  me  down 
to  the  last  penny,  he's  such  a  damned  milksop  —  and  in  my 
shoes,  in  my  shoes  !  Think  for  me.  My  brain's  no  good. 
It's  on  fire.  Let  him  find  out  and  it's  all  up  with  you,  too, 
my  lady.  It's  your  business  to  stand  by  me.  Wonder  I 
didn't  think  of  that  before." 

"  You'll  go  to  Paris  to-morrow  to  consult  a  heart  special 
ist—" 

"  I  tell  you  I've  got  to  get  out  of  this  to-night.  If  I  don't, 
the  roof '11  be  off  before  breakfast.  Do  you  suppose  I  can 
wait  for  a  lot  of  palaver  ?  I'd  have  been  off  before  this,  but 
I  can't  think  of  a  ghost  of  an  excuse." 

"You  can't  find  a  better  than  that,  and  you  can  go  to 
night.     He  knows  your  heart  is  weak,  or  was.     I'll  tell  him 
I  became  terrified  and  packed  you  off  without  delay, 
out  your  portmanteau,  and  I'll  look  up  the  trains  in  Brad- 
shaw." 


XXI 

"  How  very  odd  !"  said  the  duke,  in  a  tone  of  manifest 
annoyance.  "How  very  odd  !" 

They  were  in  the  library  and  Julia  had  imparted  her 
information. 

"Not  at  all,"  she  replied  indifferently.  "He  would  have 
gone  before  this,  but  feared  to  worry  you  —  thought  he 
would  feel  better.  Last  night  he  was  so  bad  that  I  put  him 
out  of  the  house." 

"You  put  Harold  out?" 

"Yes.  That  will  give  you  an  idea  of  how  he  was  feeling, 
when  he  was  willing  to  mind  me  !" 

"Hm!  Why  didn't  you  go  with  him?  A  wife  should 
never  leave  her  husband  for  a  day,  particularly  when  he 
is  ill!" 

"We  neither  thought  of  that  until  the  last  minute  —  he 
was  so  nervous  and  there  was  only  time  to  pack  and  catch 
the  train  —  I  was  racking  my  brain  over  Bradshaw.  I 
offered  to  follow,  of  course,  but  he  said  he  preferred  I  should 
remain  and  keep  our  engagements  here  —  he's  developed 
such  a  love  of  society,  poor  Harold  —  he  seems  haunted  by 
the  fear  that  we  might  drop  out  —  you  see,  he  was  once  a 
little  wild  - 

"Never  really!"  said  the  duke,  emphatically.  "Why 
shouldn't  he  sow  a  few  oats  —  a  fine  young  fellow  ?  Not 
that  I  approve;  but  it  is  natural  enough." 

"Of  course,  poor  dear,  and  he  fancies  that  people  think 
him  far  worse  than  he  was,  and  he  has  an  idea  that  I  am 
useful  to  him  - 

"Quite  so.  That  is  what  you  charming  young  wives 
are  for.  But  I  cannot  think  why  Harold  should  feel  obliged 
to  go  to  Paris.  We  have  heart  specialists  here." 

178 


THREE   POTTERS  179 

"Oh,  but  no  one  to  compare  with  —  with  —  Corot. 
And  Harold  knows  him,  you  see,  and  has  such  confidence 
in  him.  He  should  have  gone  a  week  earlier,  when  —  the 

—  ah  —  thumping  began." 

"Thumping?     Dear  me!     Is  Harold  as  bad  as  that?" 
"Oh,  it  only  means  that  he  needs  the  right  kind  of  tonic 

—  after  so  long  a  siege  of  fever  —  and  all  that  sport  —  and 
the  political  campaign  —  you  see,  he  should  have  had  him 
self  looked  over  sooner;    but  at  Bosquith  there  was  only 
the  country  doctor,  and  then  —  he  hated  to  leave  us.     I 
don't  think  he'd  have  gone  this  morning  if  I  hadn't  insisted. 
And  he  was  dreadfully  worried  for  fear  you'd  be  angry." 

"Oh,  well,"  said  the  duke,  mollified  ;  " after  all,  he  knows 
his  own  affairs  best.  Ah  —  wait  a  moment." 

Julia,  who  was  escaping,  breathless  with  the  lies  she  had 
told,  and  longing  for  fresh  air,  halted,  and  the  duke  swung 
round  in  his  chair  and  laid  the  fingers  of  one  hand  over  the 
back  of  the  other. 

"Sit  down  again  for  a  moment,  my  dear,"  he  said,  not 
unkindly,  although  he  had  assumed  what  Julia  called  his 
preaching  manner  and  his  praying  voice. 

She  sat  down  on  the  edge  of  a  chair.     The  duke  resumed. 

"There  is  a  matter  I  have  had  in  my  mind  since  the  night 
of  the  party.  I  don't  like  to  scold  you,  for  in  the  main  you 
are  a  very  good  child  and  a  dutiful  wife  —  really,  I  have 
little  fault  to  find  with  you.  But  —  ah  —  you  must  have 
seen  that  I  was  much  annoyed  when  I  learned,  that  without 
my  consent,  and  in  spite  of  my  expressed  distaste  for  those 
two  young  women,  you  had  asked  them  to  my  house." 

"Of  course  I  knew  you  would  be  annoyed." 

"Indeed  ?    I  supposed  you  merely  thoughtless  I" 

"Oh,  no."  Julia  turned  her  large  brilliant  gaze  upon 
the  small  slate-colored  eyes  whose  dullness  was  lighting 
with  indignation.  "I  told  you  —  perhaps  you  have  for 
gotten  —  that  as  you  have  made  me  your  hostess,  and  ex 
pect  me  to  devote  a  large  part  of  my  energies  to  acquitting 
myself  creditably,  I  feel  that  the  position  carries  with  it 
certain  rights.  So  I  invited  my  best  friends." 


i8o  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

"But  you  knew  that  I  disapproved  of  them  !" 

"Without  reason.  They  are  of  your  own  class,  and  their 
reputations  are  immaculate.  Why  should  I  snub  my 
friends?  The  invitations  went  out  in  the  names  of  all 
three  of  us." 

"That  has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  I  do  not  wish  you  to 
associate  with  these  young  women.  Their  tendencies  are 
dangerous.  They  have  stepped  out  of  their  class  and  must 
take  the  consequences.  Old  orders  would  not  change  if 
men  were  firmer-  When  Harold  returns  I  shall  ask  him 
to  put  his  foot  down.  I  cannot  expect  you  to  obey  me,  but 
you  are  bound  to  obey  your  husband." 

"I  shall  not  in  the  matter  of  my  friends.  I  have  told 
him  that  if  he  interferes  with  me  in  any  way,  I'll  leave 
him  and  go  into  Ishbel's  shop." 

"WHAT?" 

The  duke  half  rose  frgm  his  chair,  then  fell  back,  gasping. 
Where  was  the  responsive  amenable  child  of  two  summers 
agone  ? 

The  child  continued.  "Yes,  I  am  doing  my  best.  I  am 
a  dutiful  wife,  and  I  try  to  look  and  act  "  (she  almost 
said  "like  a  future  duchess,"  but  her  nimble  mind  leaped 
aside  in  time)  "as  if  I  had  been  entertaining  all  my  life.  I 
listen  to  Lady  Arabella's  lectures,  and  Aunt  Maria's,  to 
say  nothing  of  yours  and  Harold's.  Even  Lady  Arabella 
says  I've  done  very  well.  But  I  have  a  few  rights  of  my 
own,  and  if  I'm  interfered  with  I'll  do  as  I  said.  I  don't 
care  so  much  for  all  this.  I'd  rather  be  free  like  Ishbel." 

"You  have  no  comprehension  of  the  duties  of  a  wife," 
gasped  the  outraged  duke,  "or  of  your  position.  That 
a  member  of  my  family  - 

"  It  is  not  so  much  that  I  am  asking.  Lots  of  women  have 
lovers  — 

"Lovers!"    The  duke  almost  strangled.     "What  does 
a  child  like  you  know  about  lovers  ?     And  in  my  house  - 
you  have  never  heard  such  a  subject  mentioned." 

"Oh  ?     I  can  tell  you  that  a  lot  of  the  women  that  have 

YMU'd  US  - 


THREE   POTTERS  181 

"  Hush  !  I  shall  listen  to  no  insinuations  about  my  guests. 
You  wicked  little  thing !" 

"No.  I  was  about  to  tell  you  that  I've  no  intention  of 
being  wicked.  I  should  hate  a  lover." 

"Indeed  !  I  am  happy  to  be  reassured."  The  duke  al 
ways  felt  at  his  best  when  sarcastic,  and  he  sat  erect  and 
looked  severely  at  this  naughty  child  who  did  not  in  the 
least  comprehend  what  she  was  talking  about. 

"You  are  too  young  to  argue  with,"  he  said.     uNot  that 
I  should  ever  think  of  arguing  with  a  woman  of  any  age. 
As  regards  Bridgit  Herbert  and  Ishbel  Jones,  if  your  hus 
band  upholds  you  in  your  friendship  with  them  I  have 
nothing  further  to  say  except  that  I  absolutely  refuse  to 
have  them  in  my  house  again.     But  if  Harold  does  not  - 
this  is  what  you  must  understand  once  for  all :   your  hus 
band's  word  is  law." 
Julia  smiled. 

"What  do  you  mean?"     The  duke  had  a  curious  sink 
ing  in  the  pit  of  his  stomach,  and  wondered  if  he  too  should 
not  consult  a  specialist. 
"You  men  are  so  funny." 
"Funny!     Madam!" 

"Yes,  that  is  the  word.     Ishbel  told  me  they  were  when 
I  first  came  over,  and  I've  found  it  out  since  for  myself." 
"Funny!" 
"Terribly  funny." 
"If  you  don't  explain  yourself - 

"I  mean  —  for  one  thing  —  just  one!  —  that  you  never 
find  out  we  have  our  own  way  in  spite  of  you.  You  think 
you  are  tyrants,  and  there  isn't  one  of  you  that  can't  be  led 
round  by  the  nose  —  managed.  Well,  I  don't  like  that 
method.  I  won't  bother  to  manage  any  man.  You're 
not  worth  the  trouble,  and  it's  a  confession  of  inferiority  on 
our  part,  anyhow.  The  more  I  see  of  you,  the  less  inferior 
I  feel.  Besides,  I  enjoy  speaking  out,  having  things  un 
derstood  without  a  lot  of  beating  round  the  bush.  I've 
discovered  that  I've  good  fighting  blood,  and  I've  learned 
that  women  have  plenty  of  resources  outside  of  husbands; 


182  JULIA  FRANCE   AXD   HER   TIMES 

all  that  is  necessary  is  to  find  the  courage  and  the  energy  to 
enjoy  them.  But  so  many  don't.  They're  all  in  love  with 
one  thing  or  another  —  husbands,  lovers,  society,  fine 
houses,  clothes,  luxury  —  so  they  'manage';  and  it  has 
spoiled  men,  flattered  them  for  centuries  that  they  were  the 
stronger  and  wiser  sex ;  and,  of  course,  demoralized  women. 
No  one  can  expand  without  the  courage  that  comes  of  being 
able  to  speak  the  truth.  Men  can  afford  to  be  truthful 
whether  they  are  or  not,  so  they  have  gone  ahead  of  us.  I 
shall  become  demoralized  all  right,  but  not  in  that  way. 
Not  in  any  way  that  I  can  help.  I  shan't  lie  —  for  myself  - 
and  I  shan't  employ  crooked  methods.  My  mother  told  me 
to  marry,  and  I  did,  because  at  that  time  I  thought  it  right 
and  natural  to  obey.  Besides,  I  suppose  one  man's  much  the 
same  as  another.  I  am  resigned.  I  shan't  cry  as  some  women 
do.  One  woman  down  at  Bosquith  last  summer  used  to 
come  into  my  room  when  I  wanted  to  sleep,  and  cry  out,  'I 
hate  life  !  Oh,  how  I  hate  life  !  '  She  was  afraid  her  hus 
band  would  find  out  about  her  lover  and  she  was  sick  of 
'the  lover  besides.  Now  she  has  a  new  lover  - 

"Hold  your  tongue!"  The  duke  for  once  in  his  life 
thundered.  "I  forbid  you  to  say  another  word — " 

"Oh,  I'm  not  very  much  interested  in  those  things. 
What  I  intended  to  say  was  that  I'll  do  my  duty,  since  mar 
ried  I  am,  but  I'll  also  do  as  I  choose  in  some  things.  You 
can't  stop  me.  You  might  have  done  so  in  the  days  when 
Bosquith  was  built,  but  a  lot  of  you  seem  to  forget  that 
times  have  changed  —  they  change  every  minute,  if  you 
did  but  know  it." 

"So  it  seems  !    I  should  think  they  did  !    Great  heaven  !" 

The  duke  paused  a  moment  as  if  he  expected  heaven  to 
respond.  Receiving  no  inspiration,  he  concluded  with 
dignity:  "I  must  think  this  matter  over.  You  may  go." 

Julia  almost  ran  out  of  the  library  and  up  to  her  own 
room.  Then  could  the  duke  have  seen  her  he  would  first 
have  received  another  shock,  then  misinterpreted  what  he 
saw,  and  plumed  himself.  For  Julia  sat  down  and  wept. 
She  had  lied  hideously,  worse  still,  glibly.  And  for  the 


THREE  POTTERS  183 

first  time  she  quite  realized  that  of  late  she  had  developed 
a  poise,  a  fertility  of  resource  in  dealing  with  the  mean 
tyrant  that  dwelt  in  the  men  to  whom  she  was  almost  sub 
ject,  that  for  the  moment  horrified  her.  Was  it  true  that 
she  was  growing  hard  ?  She  wished  she  had  talked  more 
confidentially  with  Nigel  instead  of  flippantly  dancing  away 
from  the  subject.  Was  she  no  longer  young  ?  She  had  a  real 
passion  for  truth.  Were  there  to  be  no  conditions  in  which 
she  could  indulge  it  ?  She  glanced  back  over  the  past  two 
years.  There  had  been  a  time  when  she  spoke  the  literal 
truth  on  all  occasions ;  now  she  spoke  it  when  it  was  feasi 
ble,  or  impressive,  but  rarely  without  forethought.  It  was 
seldom  that  she  let  herself  go.  She  felt  a  hatred  of  civiliza 
tion  stir,  wondered  if  in  the  whole  planetary  system  there 
was  a  world  where  truth  was  the  standard,  where  every 
man  was  himself,  where  the  petty  lies  which  made  the  great 
ones  inevitable  were  unknown.  A  prophetic  ray  suggested 
that  such  conditions  might  involve  complications  unless 
human  nature  itself  were  of  a  new  brand ;  but  she  was  not 
in  the  mood  to  follow  the  thought  to  its  logical  finish.  She 
wanted  freedom  here,  and  it  appeared  to  be  impossible  of 
attainment.  But  at  least  she  would  strive  for  independence. 
To  both  of  the  men  who  shadowed  her  life  she  had  read  what 
the  Americans  called  the  riot  act.  That,  at  least,  was 
something  accomplished.  She  could  not  be  accused  of  de 
ceit,  despised  because  she  paid  the  tribute  of  her  sex  to 
their  superiority. 

Suddenly  her  spirits  darted  upward  on  wings.  She  was 
free  of  her  husband  for  a  week,  perhaps  longer.  She  bathed 
her  eyes  and  danced  about  the  room.  But  when  she  rea 
lized  the  source  of  her  exultation  she  turned  hastily  from 
it,  dressed,  and  went  to  Ishbel's  shop. 


XXII 

DURING  the  fortnight  of  France's  wassail  the  duke  and 
Julia  avoided  each  other  by  tacit  consent.  His  Grace  found 
himself  uncommonly  absorbed  in  politics,  attended  no  less 
than  three  important  dinners;  and,  ascertaining  Julia's 
engagements,  dined  at  the  House  upon  the  one  occasion 
when  she  dined  at  home.  Therefore,  were  there  no  elab 
orate  and  recurring  explanations  of  Harold's  prolonged 
absence,  and  singular  epistolary  neglect  of  his  cousin. 
Julia,  as  she  passed  the  duke  on  the  stair,  mentioned  cas 
ually  once  or  twice  that  her  husband  was  detained  by  his 
doctor's  orders,  might  be  for  six  or  eight  days  to  come. 

The  duke  had  resolved  that  he  would  not  be  betrayed 
into  another  war  of  words  with  this  or  any  woman,  nor  would 
he  recur  to  the  subject  of  Julia's  offences  until  he  had  fully 
determined  what  to  say  to  her,  what  course  to  take.  And 
as  for  the  life  of  him  he  could  not  make  up  his  mind,  she  was 
left  to  her  own  devices. 

And  these  devices  were  many.  Julia  resolved  to  forget 
her  husband's  existence,  and  enjoy  herself  in  new  ways. 
She  went  to  nine  parties  and  danced  until  dawn.  She  saw 
Bridgit,  Ishbel,  and  Nigel  every  day,  rode  on  the  tops  of 
omnibuses,  and  lunched  in  A  B  C's,  Italian  restaurants, 
and  the  Cheshire  Cheese;  these  last  three  dissipations  in 
company  with  Mr.  Herbert.  He  also  took  her  frequently 
to  the  National  Gallery,  and  administered  her  first  les 
sons  in  art.  They  even  visited  the  Bond  Street  exhibitions 
and  one  or  two  private  studios. 

Nigel  made  no  attempt  to  flirt  with  her ;  he  was  by  no 
means  sure  that  he  still  cared  for  her,  so  changed  was  she, 
although  her  magnetic  charm  was  unaffected.  But  she 
would  seem  to  have  lost  the  ideal  and  unique  quality  that 
had  roused  his  deeper  feeling,  and  that  gone,  he  felt  no 
doirt-  for  ihr  rvsiduum.  Certainly,  it  W3S  n<»t  worth  the 

184 


THREE   POTTERS  185 

sacrifice  of  his  career ;  although  of  course  it  was  very  jolly  to 
be  the  chosen  friend  of  such  a  radiant  creature  (of  whom  men 
were  beginning  to  take  much  notice),  and  he  made  up  his 
mind  to  remain  in  London  during  Julia's  period  of  Liberty, 
then  return  to  Switzerland  and  his  new  book.  He  was 
rather  glad  of  this  test  than  otherwise,  the  opportunity  to 
make  sure  that  the  only  rival  of  his  work  had  been  routed. 
Sometimes,  however,  he  wished  that  he  might  love  Julia 
frantically,  these  days,  thus  receiving  an  additional  proof  of 
the  might  of  art ;  but  that  hard  bright  surface  repelled  him. 
He  felt  that  he  no  longer  knew  her,  should  not  until  life  had 
taught  her  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  herself.  Mean 
while,  poor  child,  if  she  was  determined  to  enjoy  herself 
to  the  limit  while  her  beast  was  on  the  loose,  it  was  the 
least  he  could  do  to  help  her ;  so  he  lectured  her  on  art  in 
the  morning  and  danced  with  her  at  night,  or  saw  to  it  that 
she  had  the  best  partners  in  the  room.  The  fortnight  passed 
very  quickly,  and  Julia,  exerting  her  strong  will,  felt  eighteen 
once  more  and  quite  happy. 

France  returned  one  morning  early,  looking  rather  the 
worse  for  wear.  After  a  coaching  from  his  wife  he  sought 
the  duke,  and,  in  his  bluffest  sailor  manner,  apologized  for 
his  abrupt  departure  and  his  failure  to  write :  he  had  been 
put  to  bed  and  commanded  to  rest,  undergone  a  scries  of 
examinations,  been  so  blue  and  bored  that  he  should  have 
made  his  cousin  as  bad  as  himself.  The  duke  was  quite 
satisfied,  and  when  France  took  the  precaution  to  add  that 
sooner  or  later  he  should  be  forced  to  return  for  another 
examination,  his  affectionate  relative  sighed  and  hoped 
Julia  would  awake  to  her  duty  and  present  another  heir 
to  the  house  of  France. 

During  the  next  two  years  France  disappeared  some  five 
or  six  times.  His  departures  were  preceded  by  excessive 
irritability ;  he  returned  as  complacent  as  a  cat  after  canary. 
Intermediately  he  was  much  himself.  Julia  became  expert 
in  seeing  little  of  him.  During  the  season  she  dragged 
him  about  with  an  unflagging  energy  that  caused  him  to 
welcome  the  few  hours  he  was  able  to  snatch  for  sleep,  and 


i86  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

the  duke  unwittingly  assisted  her  by  demanding  his  daily 
presence  in  the  House  of  Commons.  During  the  shooting 
and  hunting  seasons  his  sportman's  fever  took  care  of  itself, 
although  she  subtly  persuaded  him  to  take  up  the  rod,  and 
to  go  to  Scotland  for  deerstalking.  She  realized  that  if  she 
continued  to  live  with  him  a  certain  amount  of  "  manage 
ment"  was  inevitable.  To  tell  the  whole  truth  and  live 
under  the  same  roof  with  France  was  manifestly  impossible, 
and  the  feeling  of  destiny  (planetary)  was  too  strong  to 
permit  her  to  leave  him  and  achieve  a  complete  indepen 
dence.  She  thought  as  little  as  possible,  read  and  studied 
a  great  deal,  and  played  to  the  top  of  her  capacity. 

There  was  political  excitement  from  time  to  time,  and 
Julia  learned  that  one  secret  of  content  was  to  forget  her 
deep  and  hopeless  disappointment  in  herself  by  keeping  her 
mind  animated  with  the  greater  affairs  of  the  nation.  No 
doubt  this  is  the  most  fruitful  source  of  woman's  interest  in 
politics  as  they  exist  to-day.  Unlike  art,  which  compels 
true  oblivion,  it  is  a  wholly  artificial  interest,  since  mentally 
unproductive;  and  of  secondary  import,  since  women  are 
not  permitted  to  employ  their  abilities  in  the  service  of 
their  country.  But  although,  no  doubt,  the  women  of  the 
future  will  look  back  with  much  amusement  upon  the 
futile,  the  pathetically  egotistic  activities,  of  their  predeces 
sors,  there  is  no  question  that  an  interest  in  public  affairs, 
no  matter  how  impersonal  and  unremunerative,  save  to 
the  spirit,  has  the  advantage  of  dissociating  the  mind  from 
those  mean  and  petty  interests  that  send  the  average 
woman  to  the  scrap  heap. 

Julia,  even  without  the  hints  of  Bridgit  and  Ishbel  (Nigel 
went  abroad  soon  after  France's  return),  would  no  doubt 
have  discovered  this  philosophy  for  herself,  for  she  came  of 
a  family  distinguished  in  colonial  politics  since  the  islands 
were  inhabited  by  the  white  man,  and  her  present  at 
mosphere  was  almost  wholly  political.  The  duke  fussed 
more  than  any  woman,  France  was  forced  to  assume  an 
interest  he  did  not  feel,  and  the  greater  number  of  their 
guests  believed  themselves  to  be  making  history.  The  duke, 


THREE   POTTERS  187 

since  his  health  would  not  permit  him  to  be  prime  minister, 
found  his  compensation  in  sitting  at  the  head  of  a  table 
surrounded  by  those  eminent  Conservatives  and  liberal- 
Unionists  whose  names  were  in  every  man's  mouth.  There 
fore  was  Julia  not  only  obliged  to  listen  intelligently,  but 
soon  began  to  feel  a  keen  pleasure  in  sharpening  the  edge  of 
her  mind  and  in  holding  opinions  and  drawing  conclusions 
of  her  own.  When  the  war  between  Spain  and  the  United 
States  broke  out  she  took  the  American  side,  partly  out  of 
perversity,  as  everybody  she  met  was  passionately  for  the 
sister  European  power,  even  after  the  Government  j)olicy 
declared  itself  and  laid  its  heavy  hand  on  the  press,  partly 
because  the  increasingly  modern  tendencies  of  her  mind 
led  her  to  sympathize  with  the  fluid  imperfections  of  youth 
as  against  the  atrophied  faults  of  age.  But  although  she 
found  her  opponents  in  argument  immovable  in  their 
sympathy  for  Spain,  and  (congenital)  disapproval  of  the 
United  States,  the  experience  gave  her  the  deepest  insight 
she  was  likely  to  have  of  the  fundamental  good  humor  of 
the  English,  as  well  as  their  sense  of  fair  play.  Unequivo 
cally  as  they  resented  the  conduct  of  the  United  States  and 
hoped  for  her  humiliation,  it  never  occurred  to  them  to 
visit  their  indignation  on  the  individual,  and  London  was 
full  of  Americans  at  the  moment.  One  afternoon  Julia 
was  taking  tea  with  Mrs.  Winstonc  when  Mrs.  Bode  came 
rustling  in,  flushed  and  indignant. 

"What  do  you  think?"  she  demanded,  before  she  had 
taken  the  chair  Mr.  Piric  hastened  to  place  for  her.  ''Han 
nah  Macmanus  asked  me  to  go  with  her  to  the  private  view 
this  afternoon,  and  when  I  arrived  at  her  house  I  found  her 
with  the  Spanish  colors  pinned  on  her  chest!  Wouldn't 
that  jar  you  ?  And  I  an  American  —  her  guest !  When  I 
exploded  —  asked  her  why  she  didn't  send  me  word  not  to 
come,  she  seemed  quite  surprised,  said  she  never  let  politics 
interfere  with  private  friendships.  But  I  bolted,  couldn't 
contain  myself.  I  do  think  you  English  are  too  odd  !" 

"Oh,  we're  merely  a  bit  hoary,"  said  Pirie;  "  we've  really 
lived,  you  see." 


x88  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

"Hope  your  history's  not  all  behind  you,"  retorted  Mrs. 
Bode.  "Well,  I'll  take  a  cup  of  tea.  If  you  were  wearing 
the  Spanish  colors,  Maria  Winstone  — 

"They  don't  become  my  own  coloring,"  said  Mrs.  Win- 
stone.  "But,  mind  you,  I'm  all  for  Spain  and  hope  you 
are  going  to  be  whipped.  If  we  were  quite  alone  I  should 
confide  that  I  didn't  care  a  straw  one  way  or  another,  but 
fashion  is  fashion,  and  I'd  no  more  dare  defy  it  than  I'd 
dare  indulge  in  an  individual  style  of  dress  —  must  be 
strictly  contemporary  or  run  the  risk  of  looking  my  age." 

"I  never  know  when  you  English  are  joking,"  said  Mrs. 
Bode,  discontentedly.  "Your  humor  (if  you  really  have 
any)  isn't  the  least  bit  like  ours." 

"Our  effects  are  got  by  telling  the  brutal  truth,"  said  Pirie. 

But  the  excitement  afforded  by  this  war  was  brief,  and 
soon  forgotten.  Kitchener's  reconquest  of  the  Soudan  was 
picturesque  enough  in  its  details  to  compel  the  attention  of 
far  happier  mortals  than  Julia,  but  was  hardly  of  a  nature  to 
disturb  the  serenity  to  which  Pirie  had  made  allusion.  Fa- 
shoda  caused  but  another  ripple  on  the  surface,  and  even 
when  the  moving  finger  appeared  on  the  South  African  hori 
zon  the  prevailing  feeling  was  annoyance,  and  astonish 
ment  at  the  temerity  of  the  Boers.  In  spite  of  the  warnings 
of  Lord  Wolsely  and  General  Butler,  England  persisted  in 
looking  at  the  new  republic  through  the  wrong  end  of  the 
opera  glass.  Early  in  August,  Julia,  at  a  county  dinner 
party,  sat  next  to  one  of  the  most  intelligent  of  the  South 
African  millionnaires  then  living  in  England.  He  had  lived 
his  life  in  South  Africa,  and  mainly  among  the  Boers;  he 
had  made  his  fortune  there,  and  taken  a  prominent  part  in 
politics.  No  man  should  have  known  the  characters  of 
the  Boers  better  than  he,  nor  the  advantages  possessed  by 
a  hard  persistent  race  that  had  learned  every  trick  of  native 
warfare  from  the  negroes  they  had  subdued.  And  yet  he 
made  a  speech  to  Julia  that  she  never  forgot. 

"You  know,  Mrs.  France,"  he  said  pleasantly,  "we  don't 
want  to  kill  anybody.  We'll  just  walk  quietly  through 
the  Transvaal  and  take  it." 


THREE   POTTERS  189 

It  was  shortly  after  this  dinner  and  the  feeling  of  renewed 
confidence  in  England's  destiny  it  induced,  that  Julia  sud 
denly  lost  all  interest  in  politics.  She  had  found  many 
compensations  in  her  life,  and  looked  forward  to  many  more. 
The  duke  had  shown  uncommon  tact  in  intimating  that 
her  husband  was  quite  equal  to  the  task  of  controlling  her, 
never  returning  to  it  himself ;  Julia,  on  the  other  hand,  hav 
ing  no  desire  to  live  alone  with  her  husband,  took  pains  to 
fill  creditably  the  duties  of  her  position,  and  showed  her 
host  the  pretty  deference  due  his  age  and  rank.  So  had 
wagged  life  for  two  more  years.  And  then  the  most  un 
expected,  the  most  incredible,  the  most  completely  disor 
ganizing,  thing  happened.  The  duke  fell  in  love  and 
married. 


BOOK   III 
HAROLD   FRANCE 


THE  wedding  took  place  early  in  September.  Immedi 
ately  after  the  announcement  of  the  duke's  intentions, 
France  had  rushed  upstairs  to  Julia  and  indulged  in  such 
an  outburst  of  rage  that  she  fled  to  another  part  of  the  castle, 
and  left  him  to  wreak  his  vengeance  on  the  furniture.  Having 
relieved  himself,  he  was  able  to  meet  the  relative,  for  whom 
his  lukewarm  affection  had  turned  to  hatred,  with  his  usual 
glassy  surface,  and,  silent  at  all  times,  save  when  delivering 
himself  of  anecdotes,  he  was  not  in  danger  of  betraying  him 
self  in  the  unguarded  word.  He  held  out  until  a  week  be 
fore  the  wedding,  and  then  had  a  heart  attack  and  parted 
from  his  sympathetic  cousin  for  his  semi-annual  pilgrimage 
to  Paris. 

"Of  course  we'll  have  to  get  out  of  this,"  he  said  to  Julia 
as  he  was  leaving.  "He  wants  us  to  stay, but  you  know 
what  that  means.  Our  day  is  over,  curse  him.  Xothin' 
for  us  but  White  Lodge.  Lucky  I  couldn't  rent  it  again. 
Luck!  Mine's  gone.  I  don't  know  when  I'll  be  back. 
Am  really  goin'  to  Paris  this  time.  You  go  to  Hertford 
shire  and  settle  yourself.  Make  it  comfortable,  but  no 
extravagance." 

"  Couldn't  we  take  a  flat  in  town  ?"  asked  Julia. 

"Town?  Not  I.  There's  good  shootin'  and  huntin'  in 
Hertfordshire,  and  that's  all  I've  got  left.  Hate  town. 
Thank  heaven,  I  can  chuck  politics.  That's  my  only  com 
fort." 

"But  you  love  society;  at  least,  your  position  in  it." 

"What's  the  good  without  a  fortune?  Besides,  we're 
not  an  hour  from  town  at  White  Lodge,  and  there's  good 
enough  society  in  the  county.  Mind  you  return  every  call." 

Then,  much  to  Julia's  delight,  he  took  himself  off. 

The  duke  and  his  new  duchess,  a  youngish  aunt  of 
o  193 


194  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

Bridgit  Herbert's,  who  had  angled  quietly  for  him  ever  since 
he  had  emerged  from  his  seclusion  and  entertained  his 
neighbors,  cordially  invited  Julia  to  remain  at  Bosquith 
for  the  rest  of  the  season,  but  she  was  anxious  to  get  away 
and  readjust  herself  in  solitude.  Besides,  her  presence  was 
necessary  at  White  Lodge;  and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to 
state  that  she  won  the  duke's  approval  by  doing  the  obvious 
thing. 

In  truth  she  was  somewhat  dazed,  in  no  state  for  a  dis 
play  of  originality.  The  unexpected  trick  of  fate  had  dis 
concerted  her  hardly  less  than  her  husband,  for  not  only 
had  she  grown  into  her  position  as  the  future  duchess  of 
Kingsborough  during  the  past  five  years,  but  she  was  pro 
foundly  shocked  to  find  that  her  mother's  planets  had  made 
a  mistake. 

Nothing  had  occurred  to  disturb  her  belief  in  the  ancient 
and  romantic  science  of  astrology  since  her  arrival  in 
England.  On  the  contrary,  some  of  the  cleverest  and  most 
eminent  men  she  had  met  professed  tolerance  of  it,  and, 
she  suspected,  felt  something  more.  On  the  other  hand, 
she  had  found  England  so  full  of  other  fads,  with  no  pos 
sible  scientific  basis,  that  her  respect  for  astrology  had 
grown  rather  than  diminished.  But  she  could  only  con 
clude  that  the  whole  thing  was  a  monstrous  delusion.  Like 
many  religions  it  filled  a  want,  and  its  picturesque  qualities 
had  captured  men's  imaginations  and  enabled  it  to  survive. 
She  received  several  incredulous  letters  from  her  mother  on 
the  subject  of  the  duke's  marriage,  finally  one  filled  with 
concentrated  astonishment,  fury,  and  despair.  This  was 
some  time  later,  when  Julia  had  written  that  she  must  cease 
to  hope,  as  there  was  no  doubt  the  new  duchess  would  have 
a  family.  Mrs.  Edis  ended  her  letter  characteristically :  — 

"  I  have  lived  in  a  fool's  paradise  for  years.  Now  I  simply 
exist  until  my  time  comes  to  die.  I  might  have  endured 
this  annihilation  of  my  only  religion,  but  not  of  the  crown 
ing  ambition  of  my  life.  In  this  matter  I  feel  that  you  are 
to  blame.  You  should  have  had  children.  You  should 
have  managed  the  duke  so  that  he  would  never  have  thought 


HAROLD   FRANCE  195 

of  marriage,  instead  of  becoming  a  woman  of  an  entirely 
different  and  alien  generation,  as  I  find  you  in  your  letters. 
I  should  prefer  that  you  do  not  write  to  me  until  I  write 
again.  Of  course  I  do  not  forget  that  you  are  my  child 
and  the  only  one  I  have  left,  now  that  your  wretched  brother 
and  his  wife  are  dead  —  for  I  do  not  count  this  fidgeting 
grandchild  I  have  on  my  hands  —  but  so  great  is  my  dis 
appointment  in  you  that  I  cannot  face  the  prospect  of  your 
letters  at  present  —  filled  as  I  know  they  will  be  with 
that  silly  shallow  modern  philosophy  which  makes  the  best 
of  things  in  the  shortest  possible  time." 

Julia  felt  sorry  for  her  mother  Jong  before  she  received 
this  letter,  but  she  soon  discovered  that  this  was  her  only 
regret,  barring  the  fact  that  she  must  see  more  of  her  hus 
band.  For  a  fortnight  she  was  quite  alone  at  White  Lodge, 
a  charmingly  situated  property  not  far  from  the  village  of 
Stanmore  and  facing  a  wild  expanse  of  heath.  The  house 
keeper  engaged  the  servants,  leaving  her  young  mistress  to 
a  complete  liberty  and  solitude  for  the  first  time  in  her  life. 
As  Julia  wandered  through  the  thick  woods  of  the  little 
park  between  the  garden  and  the  heath,  or  rode  alone  in 
the  dawn,  or  explored  the  historic  villages  and  romantic 
lanes  and  properties  of  Hertfordshire,  she  realized  how 
weary  she  was  of  the  pleasant  uniformity  of  London  society, 
of  entertaining  in  the  country  for  sportsmen  and  statesmen  ; 
admitted  once  for  all  that  to  be  a  great  peeress  of  Britain 
would  bore  her  to  death.  Whatever  ambitions  she  might 
develop,  now  that  she  was  free  to  be  an  individual  ignored 
by  the  planets,  to  be  a  great  lady  was  not  of  them,  and 
during  these  delightful  weeks  she  dreamed  of  discovering 
some  overlaid  talent  with  which  she  should  achieve  a  real 
place  in  life. 

It  did  not  occur  to  her  to  leave  her  husband.  Noblesse 
oblige  would  have  kept  her  at  his  side  in  his  fallen  fortunes, 
even  had  she  not  felt  an  even  keener  sympathy  for  him  than 
when  he  had  struggled  for  life  during  the  early  months  of 
their  marriage.  She  had  ceased  to  fear  him,  forgotten  her 
prophetic  moments,  so  secure  did  she  feel  in  her  power  to 


196  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

manage  him,  and  so  little,  for  the  past  year  at  least,  had 
she  seen  of  him.  She  would  console  him  to  the  best  of  her 
ability  for  the  bitterest  disappointment  such  a  man  could 
feel,  make  White  Lodge  as  brilliant  as  possible,  dress  on 
fifty  pounds  a  year,  and  ask  nothing  in  return  but  the  lib-, 
erty  to  study,  and  develop  the  talents  she  was  sure  she  pos 
sessed,  deeply  buried  as  they  might  be.  Before  a  week  had 
passed,  she  had  completely  readjusted  herself,  and  looked 
forward  eagerly  to  several  years  of  comparative  quiet  during 
which  her  mind  should  mature  and  make  ready  for  the 
great  discovery. 

But  a  quiet  life  was  not  for  Julia,  then  or  ever. 


n 

JULIA,  after  the  light  supper  which  she  had  been  thank 
ful  to  substitute  for  the  long  dinner  of  the  past  four  years, 
wandered  slowly  through  the  fields  drinking  in  that  peace 
which  descends  upon  Hertfordshire  at  nightfall,  in  all  its 
perfection.  She  leaned  her  arms  on  a  fence,  enjoying  the 
Wordsworthian  landscape :  the  wide  fields  with  their  hay 
ricks  like  houses,  the  quiet  cattle,  the  slowly  moving  stream, 
the  soft  masses  of  wood  melting  into  the  low  sky.  The  red 
band  had  faded  behind  the  sharp  church  spire.  The  night 
moths  fluttered.  The  stillness  was  too  soft  to  be  profound, 
too  sweet  to  inspire  awe. 

But  although  she  loved  this  twilight  beauty  and  peace 
of  England,  of  which  she  had  had  but  a  taste  now  and 
again,  being  usually  at  table  during  the  most  poetical  hour 
of  the  English  day,  she  felt  a  sudden  antagonism  to  it  to 
night,  as  too  perfect,  too  finished  a  thing  for  the  world  to 
possess  whilr  so  many  of  it-  dark  problems  were  unsolved. 
Although  she  had  persistently  refused  to  study  the  under 
world  under  the  escort  of  Bridgit,  turning  instinctively  from 
all  that  would  shatter  the  illusions  among  which  she  chose 
to  live,  she  had  not  been  able  to  shut  out  bare  knowledge, 
and  Nigel's  second  and  fourth  books  had  been  even  more 
enlightening  than  his  first.  She  smiled  as  she  thought  of 
Nigel,  whom  she  had  not  seen  since  the  end  of  her  first  mat 
rimonial  vacation.  He  had  left  England  soon  after  and 
not  returned.  His  father,  incensed  at  his  avowed  Social 
ism,  and  mortified  at  the  conspicuous  failure  of  his  third 
book,  an  exquisite  bit  of  pure  art,  had  definitely  renounced 
him,  and  he  was  living  quietly  and  happily  in  picturesque 
corners  of  Europe.  Julia,  knowing  his  passionate  love  of 
beauty,  envied  him  the  power  to  gratify  it,  his  complete 
surrender  to  the  artistic  life.  She  wondered  why  he  kept 

197 


198  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

on  writing  of  the  grimy  horrors  of  England,  when  he  might 
give  the  world  his  dreams  of  the  wonderland  beyond  the 
Channel.  To  be  sure,  that  unique  combination  of  the  prop 
agandist  and  the  artist  made  for  greatness,  but  his  last 
book,  which  she  had  finished  only  an  hour  since,  had  dark 
ened  her  mind,  and  unfitted  her  for  surrender  to  the  beauty 
and  peace  of  the  English  twilight. 

Why  was  the  enlightened  class  so  stupid  ?  Why  did  it 
not  eliminate  poverty  and  the  terrible  pictures  that  must 
haunt  every  sensitive  mind,  instead  of  waiting  for  mob 
rule,  and  its  inevitable  sequence  of  a  dictator  and  return  to 
first  principles  ?  Socialism  must  come  from  above.  When 
the  laboring  classes  used  the  word  they  meant  democracy, 
in  which  every  man  would  have  a  chance  to  acquire  riches ; 
mere  comfort  and  security,  with  no  opportunity  to  loot  the 
universal  till,  had  no  charms  for  them.  Man  is  adventurous 
and  greedy,  and  the  lower  his  place  in  the  scale,  the  more 
insensate  his  dreams. 

Nigel's  books,  in  their  cold  impersonal  realism,  did  not 
inspire  her  with  any  great  respect  or  liking  for  the  poor. 
She  knew  that  he  was  employing  his  art  and  his  seductive 
story-telling  faculty  not  only  in  the  cause  of  humanity, 
but  to  help  avert  a  convulsion  in  which  his  own  class  would 
go  down.  She  knew  that  if  it  came  to  open  war,  a  blood- 
revolution,  the  theories  and  principles  of  which  his  reason 
approved  would  fly  off  on  the  red  winds  and  he  would  get 
behind  the  guns  on  his  own  side.  The  intellectual  aris 
tocrat  may  serve  the  cause  of  general  humanity  in  entire 
honesty  and  conviction,  but  the  moment  class  is  arrayed 
against  class  he  will  fight,  not  with  the  passions  of  his  brain, 
but  of  his  instincts,  and  with  that  almost  fanatical  contempt 
and  hatred  of  the  common  people  when  daring  to  assert 
themselves  he  has  inherited  with  his  brain  cells.  Nigel  had 
admitted  this  freely  to  Julia,  confessed  that  while  he  was  keen 
to  devote  every  year  of  his  life  and  every  phase  of  his  talent 
to  eliminating  poverty,  he  never  heard  of  a  laborer's  strike 
which  inconvenienced  the  public  that  he  did  not  burn  at 
their  impudence  and  long  for  their  annihilation. 


HAROLD   FRANCE  199 

"But  it  is  this  duality  that  makes  the  game  interesting," 
he  had  concluded.  "I  only  hope  I  shall  never  be  put  to 
the  test.  There  are  many  other  things  I  should  enjoy 
writing  about  far  more,  but  I  always  feel  that  /  don't  mat 
ter  in  the  least.  If  I  was  given  a  brain  on  top  of  my  in 
stincts,  it  was  to  advance  the  cause  of  humanity  and 
civilization.  At  all  events  that  is  the  way  I  see  things,  by 
such  light  as  I  possess." 

He  had  gone  on  to  say  that  he  had  become  an  advocate 
of  Socialism  because,  so  far,  it  was  the  best  solution  the  hu 
man  mind  had  evolved,  but  that  all  the  artist  in  him  la 
mented  its  lack  of  appeal  to  any  part  of  man  but  his  brain. 
Unpicturesque,  dry,  hard,  but  growing  more  practical  and 
expedient  year  by  year,  if  it  failed  eventually,  it  would  only 
be  through  lack  of  a  soul. 

Would  Nigel  be  the  man  to  find  this  soul?  He  had  a 
measure  of  genius ;  why  not  ?  She  felt  proud  of  him  that 
he  could  induce  the  thought,  then,  in  a  moment  of  hardly 
realized  sex  jealousy,  wished  that  it  might  be  discovered 
by  some  woman.  Herself?  Why  not?  But  at  this 
point  she  laughed  aloud,  and  turned  her  face  toward  home. 
Banish  the  ugly  facts  of  life.  Enjoy  this  divine  peace  while 
it  lasted. 

She  left  the  field  and  sauntered  down  the  crooked  lane 
full  of  sweet  scents  and  haunted  by  the  white  night  moths. 
Skirting  the  wall  that  surrounded  White  Lodge,  she  en 
tered  by  the  front  gates,  but,  loath  to  leave  the  twilight, 
mounted  a  stump  and  leaned  her  arms  on  the  coping. 
The  heath,  a  wild  rolling  bit  of  nature,  mysterious  in  the 
dusk,  was  deserted  but  for  a  gypsy  caravan.  She  remained 
out  every  night  until  dusk  had  melted  into  dark,  ravished 
by  the  serene  beauty  of  this  typical  bit  of  England,  believing 
that  in  time  it  would  help  her  to  solve  the  riddle  of  her  mind. 
For  her  soul  she  asked  nothing,  believing  her  capacity  for 
happiness  in  any  form  to  have  been  killed  long  since,  but  de 
manding  some  mental  compensation  more  personal  and 
permanent  than  books.  If  she  dreamed  long  enough  in 
this  wonderful  English  twilight,  gave  her  imagination  rein 


200  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

-  who  could  tell  ?  And  there  was  something  more  than  a 
possibility  that  this  liberty  to  dream  and  develop  might 
spin  out  indefinitely.  Even  if  the  war  with  those  tiresome 
Boers  should  prove  as  brief  as  the  duke  and  her  South 
African  acquaintance  predicted,  Harold,  deprived  of  other 
diversions,  might  go  out  to  South  Africa  for  such  excitement 
and  sport  as  the  campaign  would  be  sure  to  afford.  And 
big  game  might  exert  its  fascinations  for  a  year  or  more. 

She  lifted  her  head  suddenly,  then  thrust  it  forward,  and 
peered  into  the  shadows  on  the  other  side  of  the  avenue. 
The  trees  of  the  park  were  closely  planted,  and  their  aisles, 
dim  at  noon,  were  black  at  this  hour.  But  something  moved, 
a  shadow  in  a  shadow  !  Julia,  who  had  rarely  known  a 
tremor  of  fear,  felt  her  knees  shake,  her  breath  come  short. 
It  could  hardly  be  a  poacher,  for  the  preserves  were  behind 
the  house,  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away;  no  poacher 
would  be  lurking  by  the  park  gates  when  he  could  slip  into 
the  coverts  at  a  dozen  points.  There  was  a  lodge  at  the 
gates,  but  it  was  untenanted.  No  one  at  the  house  could 
hear  her,  no  matter  how  loudly  she  might  call,  and  —  and 

—  she  watched  the  shadows  with  dilating  eyes  —  there 
was  no  doubt  that  a  man  moved  within  twenty  yards  of  her. 
Suddenly  it  occurred  to  her  that  it  must  be  one  of  the 
gypsies  come  to  beg,  and  watching  for  his  opportunity. 
She  caught  at  the  tails  of  her  flying  courage,  and  stepped 
out  into  the  avenue. 

"What  do  you  wish?"  she  asked  firmly.  "If  you  have 
come  to  beg,  I  have  no  money  here,  but  you  can  go  to  the 
house  and  I  will  tell  them  to  give  you  food."  Then,  as  there 
was  neither  answer  nor  movement,  she  added  with  a  fair 
assumption  of  indifference,  "You  can  follow  me." 

She  started  up  the  avenue,  walking  deliberately,  while 
filled  with  a  wild  desire  to  run.  For  still  there  came  no 
answer  from  the  depths  of  that  black  plantation,  nor,  for 
a  moment  or  two,  any  movement.  Then  she  heard  the 
soft  crackling  of  twigs  under  a  light  foot,  and,  glancing  ir 
resistibly  over  her  shoulder,  saw  a  moving  shadow.  She 
felt  her  skin  turn  cold,  and  once  more  that  insidious  trem- 


HAROLD   FRANCE  201 

bling  attacked  her  limbs.  She  realized  with  both  horror 
and  indignation  that  she  was  in  the  grip  of  fear,  she  who 
had  gone  through  earthquake  and  hurricane !  For  a  mo 
ment  mortification  routed  terror,  gave  her  a  momentary 
respite,  and  she  halted  and  called  sharply :  — 

"Why  don't  you  come  into  the  avenue?  Come  out  at 
once  and  walk  ahead  of  me." 

The  steps  halted.  There  was  no  other  answer. 
" Peace!"  That  was  no  word  for  a  dark  plantation  at 
night !  It  was  a  silence  so  profound  and  so  awful  that  it 
seemed  to  shriek.  Julia  clenched  her  shaking  hands,  took 
a  step  forward  and  peered  into  the  wood.  A  shadow  de 
tached  itself  from  the  darker  background  and  swayed 
deliberately. 

Courage  fled.  In  full  surrender  to  fear,  the  most  awful 
sensation  that  the  human  nerves  can  experience,  she  dashed 
up  the  avenue.  In  the  confusion  of  her  brain  she  fancied 
that  she  was  standing  still,  that  her  feet  had  turned  to  lead, 
that  her  breath  had  left  her  body.  Then  the  confusion  was 
cut  by  a  flash  of  thought.  It  was  no  man  there,  but  some 
evil  spirit  that  haunted  the  plantation.  As  every  house 
on  Nevis  and  St.  Kitts  had  its  ghost,  she  had  grown  up  in  a 
firm  and  unconcerned  belief  in  the  visits  of  the  dead  to  their 
ancient  haunts,  and  Bosquith  boasted  seven  ghosts.  But 
she  had  never  seen  one,  and  to  accept  a  popular  creed  and 
find  yourself  pursued  by  a  hollow  visitant  in  a  lonely  park, 
far  from  human  support,  induces  mental  states  entirely 
unrelated.  It  might  even  be  a  vampire  !  Julia  shrieked, 
sobbed,  almost  leaped,  as  she  heard  that  light  crackling 
of  twigs  not  three  yards  behind  her. 

Suddenly  the  steps  ran  ahead  of  her.  Her  wide  staring 
eyes  saw  that  shadow  within  a  shadow,  barely  outlined, 
flit  past  among  the  trees,  then  stop,  sway  again.  She 
sprang  back  among  the  trees  on  her  side  of  the  avenue. 
The  shadow  came  slowly  forward,  then  turned  suddenly 
and  ran  back  into  the  depths.  Julia  crouched  with  chat 
tering  teeth.  They  were  plainly  audible.  So  was  her 
panting  breath. 


202  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

Again  there  was  silence.  Julia's  body,  by  a  mere  reac 
tion  independent  of  her  will,  recovered  its  power  of  motion 
and  darted  up  the  avenue  once  more.  Again  that  light 
crackling  of  autumn  leaves.  But  her  will  showed  a  flicker 
of  vitality,  moved  in  the  depths  of  her  disorganized  brain. 
She  visualized  it,  as  she  had  once  seen  it  in  a  diagram, 
dragged  it  upward,  ordered  it  to  keep  her  from  fainting,  to 
hold  her  strength  until  she  reached  the  garden.  She  could  see 
the  lights  of  the  house.  Her  mind  grew  clearer.  She  real 
ized  that  she  was  running  like  a  deer.  A  few  more  steps! 
Then  she  heard  those  behind  bear  down  upon  her  with  the 
swiftness  and  noise  of  an  express  train.  She  was  caught 
about  the  waist.  As  she  lost  consciousness  she  heard  a 
loud  guffaw. 

She  opened  her  eyes,  realized  that  she  lay  on  a  garden 
bench,  that  a  heavily  breathing  creature  stood  beside  her. 
For  a  moment  she  dared  not  lift  her  eyes,  seized  again  with 
a  fear  that  seemed  to  distend  every  nerve  in  her  body,  even 
as  she  felt  something  vaguely  familiar  in  the  form  beside 
her.  There  was  another  burst  of  intense  amusement.  She 
sprang  to  her  feet  with  blazing  eyes  and  confronted  her 
husband. 

"  You!  "she  gasped.     "You!" 

France  rocked  to  and  fro  with  mirth.  "Yes  !"  he  finally 
ejaculated.  "Gad!  I'm  as  much  out  of  breath  as  you 
are  —  holdin'  my  sides !  What  a  lark !  Never  knew  it 
would  be  such  fun  to  frighten  anybody.  Rippin'  sensation. 
And  you  were  frightened  dumb,  by  Jove  !  Hardly  believed 
it  of  you,  but  suddenly  thought  I'd  try/' 

"You  coward  !  You  brute  !"  One  has  to  be  calm  and 
detached  to  find  original  phrases.  In  moments  of  real 
emotion  the  time-worn  and  the  ready-made  dart  out  of 
the  mind  as  naturally  as  thought  of  dinner  above  hunger. 
"For  anything  that  calls  itself  a  man  - 

"No  insults,  my  lady,  or  I'll  do  worse.  It's  you  arc  the 
coward  —  only  time  I  ever  got  a  rise  out  of  you  !  Didn't 
know  you  had  any  kind  of  excitement  in  you,  by  gad  I" 

"You  brute!    You  brute  I'1 


HAROLD   FRANCE  203 

Julia,  as  much  astounded  as  indignant,  and  vaguely 
alarmed,  as  she  had  sometimes  been  in  the  early  months 
of  her  married  life,  turned  to  walk  to  the  house  in  a  dignified 
retreat.  But  France  caught  her  in  his  arms. 
"No  you  don't,  my  lady.  Give  me  a  kiss." 
Then,  for  the  first  time,  passion  flamed  in  Julia.  The 
twilight  turned  crimson.  She  beat  him  on  the  chest,  the 
face,  the  head.  She  kicked  him,  and  strove  to  unite  her 
hands  about  his  neck  and  choke  him.  She  longed  for  a 
knife,  for  a  pistol.  She  seethed  with  hatred  and  the  desire 
to  do  murder.  And  France  only  laughed,  and  brushed  off 
her  hands  with  his  great  hairy  ones,  while  with  one  arm  he 
clasped  her  hard  and  rained  kisses  on  her  unprotected 
face.  And  he  nexrer  ceased  laughing  with  an  intense  quiet 
amusement,  his  eyes  glittering  as  they  did  when  he  went  to 
hangings,  when  he  once  had  happened  to  witness  natives 
tortured  in  the  Congo,  as  they  did  at  certain  performances 
in  Paris  calculated  to  gratify  the  primitive  lusts  of  man. 
France  had  always  envied  those  Eastern  potentates  that 
amused  themselves  with  the  death  agonies  of  their  slaves 
just  before  heads  were  sliced  off ;  but  for  him  and  his  sort 
there  are  still  compensations  to  be  found  in  the  depths  of 
civilization. 


Ill 

MRS.  WINSTONE  sat  in  her  charming  drawing-room  in 
Tilney  Street,  by  a  fire  that  cast  a  warm  glow  over  her  delicate 
good  looks,  further  enhanced  by  a  tea-gown  of  violet  Liberty 
velveteen  and  Irish  lace.  The  tea-table  was  beside  her,  and 
grouped  about  it  were  Mr.  Pirie,  Mrs.  Macmanus,  and  Lord 
Algy  —  reinstated  in  her  affections  after  an  interval  of 
fickleness;  all  were  comfortably  nibbling  muffins  and 
drinking  their  horrid  mess  of  tea  and  cream  while  looking 
as  gloomy  as  possible. 

It  was  "black  week"  of  December,  1899.  Methuen, 
Gatacre,  and  Buller  had  met  with  humiliating  reverses  in 
South  Africa,  Sir  George  White  was  shut  up  in  Ladysmith 
with  twelve  thousand  men,  and  the  Boers  were  proving 
themselves  possessed  of  a  generalship,  which,  combined  with 
the  stores  of  ammunition  they  had  been  accumulating 
since  the  Jameson  Raid,  a  complete  knowledge  of  their 
puzzling  hills,  the  strategic  devices  they  had  learned  from 
the  natives,  and  an  indomitable  spirit,  had  finally  succeeded 
in  quenching  optimism  in  Great  Britain. 

"Jove,  You  know,"  said  Algy,  "it  can't  be  only  that 
they're  on  their  own  ground  —  cursed  ground,  too,  you 
know.  Fancy  the  beggars  knowin'  how  to  fight." 

Mr.  Pirie  crossed  his  legs  and  smiled  complacently.  "  I 
flatter  myself  that  I  was  one  of  the  three  or  four  men 
in  England  that  anticipated  this.  Wolsely  warned  us. 
Butler  warned  us.  We  wouldn't  listen.  How  could  we  be 
expected  to  when  the  South  Africans  here  never  believed 
the  Boers  would  fight  ?  And  here  we  are  !" 

"I  won't  believe  it  —  that  they  can  hold  out  a  month 
longer,"  said  Mrs.  Macmanus,  resolutely.  "It's  only  a 
temporary  advantage,  because  no  British  general  would 
ever  count  upon  a  trickery  of  which  he  is  incapable  himself. 

204 


HAROLD   FRANCE  205 

And  what  is  life  without  hope  ?  I  hated  the  thought  of  the 
war.  Is  it  true  that  Bobs  and  Kitchener  are  to  be  sent 
out?" 

"  Beginning  of  Chapter  II.  Wish  I  were  not  too  old  to  go 
out.  You'll  be  volunteering,  Algy,  I  suppose?" 

Lord  Algy  looked  up  with  something  like  animation  in 
his  pale  eyes.  ''Rather/'  he  said.  "One  more  lump, 
please.  Was  accepted  yesterday."  And  two  months 
later,  with  as  little  fuss,  he  died  at  Pieter's  Hill*. 

"Oh,  dear!"  cried  Mrs.  Winstone.  "What  will  become 
of  us  all  ?  Fancy  your  doin'  such  a  thing,  Algy  !  All  the 
men  are  goin',  whether  they  have  to  or  not.  London  will 
be  too  dull.  Geoffrey  Herbert's  regiment  is  under  orders, 
and  such  ducks  are  in  it.  I  wonder  if  Bridgit  cares?" 

"  She  won't  miss  him,"  said  Mrs.  Macmanus,  dryly.  "  She 
could  hardly  see  less  of  him  there  than  here,  but  she's  got  a 
heart  and  no  doubt  would  spare  a  tear  if  he  fell." 

"I'll  tell  you  who  cares,"  said  Pirie,  "and  that's  Jones. 
He's  loaded  down  with  Kaffirs,  and  is  in  a  blue  funk.     Glad 
I  unloaded  when  every  one  else  was  rushin'  at   'em  - 
thought  the  war  would  be  over  in  two  weeks,  old  Jones  did, 
ha  !  ha  !    He  can't  get  rid  of  a  share." 

"Will  it  matter  to  Ishbel?"  asked  Algy. 

"Not  a  bit,"  said  Mrs.  Winstone.  "She's  paid  him  off 
long  since,  and  opened  a  dressmakin'  establishment,  besides 
her  hat  shop.  It'll  be  just  her  luck  to  have  all  the  smart 
people  go  into  mournin'  at  once." 

"Well,  thank  heaven  the  jingoes  have  shut  up  a  bit - 
what  is  the  matter?" 

Mrs.  Winstone  had  exclaimed,  "How  odd!  I  just 
saw  Julia  go  up  the  stairs." 

At  the  same  moment  a  maid  entered  and  announced  that 
Mrs.  France  did  not  wish  any  tea,  but  would  wait  upstairs 
until  Mrs.  Winstone  was  free. 

"Tell  her  I'll  be  with  her  presently,  unless  she'll  change 
her  mind  and  come  down.  Now,  what  can  be  the  matter? 
Come  to  think  of  it,  I  haven't  seen  her  since  she  went  to 
White  Lodge  in  August  or  September.  Haven't  got  over 


206  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

my  disappointment  yet,  and  preferred  to  forget  her  for 
a  while.  I  do  hope  France  hasn't  been  misbehavin'  him 
self." 

"You  may  be  sure  he  has,"  said  Mrs.  Macmanus; 
"  consolin'  himself  for  his  second  facer  —  no  doubt  he's 
heard  the  news  from  Bosquith." 

"What  a  bore,"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Winstone.  " Julia  gave 
me  the  impression  when  she  first  arrived  in  England  that 
she'd  rear  at  too  heavy  a  bit ;  but  she  should  be  well  broken 
in  by  this  time." 

"Do  you  think  so?"  asked  Pirie.  "That  sort  never  is 
broken  in.  High-spirited  filly  that  runs  all  right  under  a 
light  rein,  but  one  cut  and  she's  over  the  traces.  She  was 
clever  enough  to  manage  France  as  long  as  he  was  satisfied, 
but  doubt  if  she'll  have  any  resource  except  open  war  when 
he's  been  bored  and  disappointed  long  enough.  Hope 
he'll  volunteer  and  get  himself  killed  with  the  least  possible 
delay.  Front's  a  good  place  for  rascally  husbands;  and 
as  they're  generally  automatically  brave,  no  matter  how 
degenerate,  let  us  hope  for  a  good  cleanin'  out  of  undesir 
able  husbands  before  we  polish  off  the  Boers.  Good 
idea  !  It  would  reconcile  even  Hannah  to  war." 

"Rather.  Poor  Julia!  You  don't  mean  to  tell  me, 
Maria,  that  you  haven't  looked  after  her  these  three  months 
she's  been  alone  with  France?" 

"Looked  after  her?"  cried  Mrs.  Winstone,  indignantly. 
"She  is  a  married  woman  of  nearly  five  years'  standing, 
and  quite  able  to  look  after  herself.  Why  should  I  be 
annoyed?  Do  toddle  along,  all  of  you.  I  want  to  hear 
the  worst  at  once.  Come  back  to  dinner,  Algy,  and  give 
an  account  of  yourself." 

She  went  slowly  up  to  her  bedroom  after  her  guests  had 
gone,  endeavoring  to  arrange  her  features  into  a  semblance 
of  cordiality.  She  deeply  resented  Julia's  failure  to  capture 
the  great  prize  which  would  have  been  so  useful  to  herself. 
One  cannot  remain  young  and  fascinating  forever,  and  if 
one  has  not  riches  to  substitute,  the  next  best  thing  is  a 
wealthy  relative  in  the  peerage  with  whom  one  can  always 


HAROLD   FRANCE  207 

be  on  intimate  terms.  She  and  the  present  Duchess  of 
Kingsborough,  a  good  plain  soul,  but  astute  withal,  would 
never  hit  it  off.  Surely,  Julia,  if  she  had  played  her  cards 
carefully,  could  have  kept  matrimonial  ideas  out  of  the 
duke's  mind.  No  doubt  she  had  antagonized  him  with 
her  independent  notions  and  theories,  which  any  really 
clever  woman  always  kept  to  herself.  Julia,  in  her  mind, 
was  a  failure,  and  Mrs.  Winstone  detested  failures. 

But  as  she  entered  her  bedroom  and  saw  Julia  standing  by 
the  hearth,  she  said  brightly,  "So  glad  to  see  you,  dear," 
and  kissed  the  cheek  presented  to  her.  "  Sorry  you  wouldn't 
come  in  and  meet  my  cronies  —  why  —  what  is  the 
matter?" 

Julia  had  turned  Tier  face  to  the  light. 

"Good  heavens!  Are  you  ill?  Really,  you  must  be 
careful  —  you  were  thin  and  white  enough  already  —  and 

-  and  —  "  her  irritation  found  vent.     "  Your  clothes  are 
not  put  on  properly." 

Julia,  who  had  looked  at  her  aunt  with  longing  eyes, 
stiffened  and  said  coldly:  "Probably  not.  You  see,  I  had 
to  run  away,  and  I  dressed  in  a  hurry.  I  could  not  make 
even  the  attempt  until  Harold  had  drunk  a  certain  amount 

-  and  it  takes  a  good  deal  - 

"  What  on  earth  do  you  mean  ?  Run  away  ?  "  Mrs.  Win- 
stone  sat  down.  "Surely  you  can  come  to  town  when  you 
choose." 

"I  am  forbidden  to  leave  the  grounds." 

"But  —  you  know,  you  really  shouldn't  run  away  —  this 
is  only  a  mood  of  Harold's.  You  should  be  careful  to  do 
nothing  to  make  yourself  conspicuous.  You  are  not  in  a 
position  to  afford  it.  No  doubt  many  ill-natured  people  have 
—  laughed  at  you.  You've  had  a  frightful  come-down,  and 
that  sort  of  thing  always  delights  spiteful  women  —  who 
envied  you  before.  And  Harold  —  poor  thing  —  no  doubt 
he  guesses  this  —  has  wanted  to  keep  quiet  for  a  time. 
Upon  my  word,  I  think  it  is  rather  the  decent  thing  to  do. 
That  is  the  reason  I  haven't  dug  you  out.  And  of  course 
he  is  horribly  disappointed  - 


208  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

Her  fluent  tongue  halted,  and  she  moved  uneasily. 
Julia's  figure  was  rigid,  but  although  Mrs.  Winstone  had 
addressed  the  window,  she  felt  that  those  big  disconcerting 
eyes  she  had  never  quite  liked  were  fixed  upon  her. 

"Ah!"  said  Julia.  " Disappointment?  That  is  a  mild 
word  to  apply  to  his  present  frame  of  mind,  or  rather  the 
one  in  possession  until  he  began  upon  his  present  course  of 
consolation.  His  former  was  such  that  I  am  forced  to  leave 
him." 

"Now  —  what  do  you  mean  by  that  ? " 

"I  mean  that  I  am  married  either  to  a  maniac  or  a  fiend, 
and  that  if  I  remain  with  him  long  enough  I  shall  either  be 
killed  or  go  mad." 

"Oh  !  You  young  things  are  so  extravagant  in  your  ex 
pressions  —  and  you  never  were  quite  like  any  one  else. 
France  is  a  bad  lot  more  or  less,  but  you  have  managed  him 
wonderfully.  Go  on  managing  him,  but  for  heaven's  sake 
don't  make  a  fuss." 

"I've  left  him,  and  I  shall  not  go  back.  It  would  be 
impossible  to  exaggerate.  I  haven't  enough  imagination." 

"Do  you  mean  that  he  —  beats  you?"  Mrs.  Winstone 
hesitated  over  the  ugly  word.  She  did  so  hate  the  ugly 
things  of  life,  even  mere  words.  She  felt  nothing  of  the 
morbid  curiosity  another  woman  might  have  felt,  but  as 
long  as  she  could  not  escape  this  confidence,  better  have  it 
over  as  soon  as  possible. 

"No.  For  some  reason  he  has  not — yet.  He  locks  me  in 
a  room  and  snaps  a  whip  at  me  by  the  hour,  promising  that 
at  a  given  moment  it  shall  cut  through  my  skin.  Why  he 
has  not  cut  me  to  ribbons,  I  don't  know,  except  that  he 
enjoys  tormenting  me  mentally,  and  defers  the  other 
pleasure.  He  has  practised  every  other  form  of  mental 
torture  he  has  been  able  to  conceive.  He  wakes  me  up 
twenty  times  a  night,  flashing  a  light  before  my  eyes,  or 
shrieking  in  my  ear.  He  makes  me  sit  up  in  bed  and  listen 
to  the  most  awful  stories,  and  the  bloodcurdling  ones  are 
not  the  worst.  He  threatens  to  pinch  me  from  head  to 
foot,  but  so  far  merely  pretends  to  - 


HAROLD   FRANCE  209 

"For  heaven's  sake  hush  !  I  can't  listen  to  such  things. 
How  does  he  treat  you  before  the  servants?" 

"Oh,  always  amiably." 

"I  thought  so.  You  haven't  a  leg  to  stand  on  so  far  as 
the  law  is  concerned.  He'd  deny  everything  blandly,  and 
you  would  be  set  down  as  an  hysteric." 

"I  think  he  is  insane." 

"Possibly.  That  may  be  the  explanation  of  Harold 
France.  But  that  will  do  you  no  good,  either,  so  long  as  he 
is  able  to  hide  it.  Two  alienists  must  see  him  in  a  condi 
tion  that  is,  unmistakably,  insanity,  and  sign  a  certificate 
to  that  effect.  Only  a  short  time  ago  the  husband  of  an 
American  friend  of  mine  acted  at  times  in  such  an  eccentric 
manner  that  there  was  no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  those  who 
saw  him  as  to  his  state.  But  he  fooled  the  doctors.  She 
feared  for  her  life,  and  two  of  her  brothers  had  to  come  over 
and  inveigle  him  on  board  an  ocean  liner  —  in  the  United 
States,  it  seems,  they  are  not  so  particular.  And  quite 
right  in  this  case,  for  the  man  is  now  raving." 

"Do  you  mean  to  say  that  the  laws  of  England  will  not 
take  care  of  me?" 

"Not  unless  you  can  persuade  him  to  beat  you  before  the 
servants.  Then  you  might  get  a  separation  —  not  a  divorce 
without  infidelity.  I  think  you  had  best  go  back  to  Nevis." 

"I'll  not  do  that.  Mother  has  been  angry  with  me  for 
a  long  time.  Just  after  the  Tays  were  at  Bosquith  I  wrote 
her  I  was  unhappy  and  disappointed  —  and  horrified.  You 
see,  Daniel  Tay  made  me  feel  almost  a  child  again,  and  I 
longed  for  my  mother's  sympathy.  She  wrote  back  that 
I  was  a  romantic  and  ungrateful  child ;  that  I  had  enough 
to  make  any  girl  happy ;  and  that  there  was  nothing  really 
wrong.  All  men  were  nuisances.  She  seemed  afraid  I 
might  run  away  and  s|X)il  her  plans.  Since  then  our  letters 
have  been  stiff  and  infrequent  —  until  the  duke  married, 
when  she  was  more  angry  with  me  still.  Now  we  don't 
write  at  all.  Besides,  I  never  wish  her  to  know  of  this. 
She  may  be  hard,  but  she  is  old,  and  she  has  had  disappoint 
ments  enough." 
p 


210  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"And  what,  may  I  ask,  do  you  mean  to  do  ?" 

"Surely  the  law  - 

"The  law  will  do  nothing  —  as  matters  are  at  present. 
And  for  heaven's  sake  keep  out  of  the  courts." 

"Very  well,  then,  I'll  go  to  work." 

"Work?" 

"Yes.  I  intended  to  do  that  meanwhile,  in  any  case. 
I  went  to  Ishbel's  on  the  way  here,  but  Mr.  Jones  is  ill 
and  I  couldn't  see  her.  So  I  thought  you  would  let  me 
stay  here  - 

"Oh,  of  course.  But  I  don't  like  this  silly  idea  of  yours, 
at  all.  Much  better  you  go  back  to  Nevis.  That  is  the 
only  real  solution.  People  here  will  think  you  have  merely 
gone  to  pay  a  visit  to  your  mother  —  natural  enough  - 
and  when  you  don't  return  —  well,  people  are  soon  for 
gotten  in  London." 

"And  I  shall  be  comfortably  buried  !  I  shall,  of  course, 
go  to  Nevis  sooner  or  later,  but  not  while  I  am  in  trouble. 
And  I  never  could  remain  there.  After  five  years  of  Eng 
land  ?  I  am  as  weaned  as  you  are.  I  should  die  of  inani 
tion." 

Mrs.  Winstone  got  up  and  moved  about  the  room  rest 
lessly.  In  her  well-ordered  life  few  problems  were  per 
mitted  to  enter,  and  not  only  did  she  resent  this  sudden 
influx  of  deadly  seriousness,  but  she  practised  a  certain 
form  of  cheap  "occultism  "  much  in  vogue  :  avoiding  every 
thing  that  contained  an  element  of  darkness,  depression, 
and  disturbance,  and  everybody  that  persisted  in  having 
troubles.  She  manufactured  an  atmosphere  to  keep 
herself  young  and  happy  much  as  she  manufactured  her 
famous  expression  daily  before  the  mirror,  and  anchored  her 
self  so  successfully  in  the  warm  bright  shallows  of  life  that 
what  springs  of  emotion  she  may  originally  have  possessed  had 
dried  up  long  since.  But  she  could  still  feel  intense  annoy 
ance,  and  she  felt  it  now.  Moreover,  she  was  puzzled. 
As  the  tiresome  creature's  only  relative  in  England,  she 
should  be  equally  criticised  if  she  refused  her  shelter  and 
sympathy  in  her  trouble,  or  if  she  identified  herself  with  her 


HAROLD   FRANCE  211 

revolt.  What  in  heaven's  name  was  to  be  done?  Well, 
this  was  December,  and  the  world  out  of  London.  And 
this  war  would  till  everybody's  thoughts  if  it  only  lasted 
long  enough.  She  returned  to  her  chair. 

"My  dear!  Really!  What  shall  I  say?  You  know 
I  only  came  up  for  a  day  or  two  —  on  my  way  to  a  lot 
of  visits.  Came  up  to  see  Hannah,  who  is  off  for  Rome. 
There  are  only  two  servants  in  the  house.  I  am  off  again 
to-morrow ;  but  of  course  you  can  stay  here  if  you  are  sure 
he  doesn't  know  where  you  are." 

"He'll  know  nothing  for  a  week." 

"  Ah  !  I  have  it !  How  clever  of  me  !  I'll  write  him  that 
I've  packed  you  off  to  Nevis.  That  will  gain  time.  Per 
haps  he'll  go  there  in  search  of  you  - 

"I  prefer  that  the  law  should  free  me  fairly.  I'm  sick  of 
lies."' 

"The  law  will  do  nothing.  Put  that  idea  out  of  your 
head.  Have  you  any  money  in  hand  ?" 

"About  thirty  pounds." 

"The  duke  ought  to  make  you  a  separate  allowance. 
Possibly  he  would  if  you  told  him  how  matters  stand,  and 
promised  to  keep  quiet." 

"He  would  not  believe  me,  not  for  a  moment.  It  is 
his  cherished  fiction  that  no  member  of  the  British  aris 
tocracy  can  do  wrong,  much  less  a  member  of  his  family. 
He  would  preach,  tell  me  that  I  had  hysterical  delusions, 
and  send  for  Harold.  I  prefer  him  to  know  nothing  about  it." 

"I  won't  have  you  in  a  shop." 

Julia  rose. 

"Oh,  for  heaven's  sake  sit  down.  Don't  let  us  talk 
about  it  any  more.  Stay  here  for  the  present.  Something 
is  sure  to  turn  up.  You'll  find  it  very  dull  - 

"Oh!" 

"Did  you  bring  any  clothes?" 

"A  portmanteau,  that  is  all." 

"Well !  Better  go  to  your  room  and  rest.  I'll  write  at 
once  to  France,  telling  him  that  you  sailed  to-day.  If  he 
doesn't  read  it  for  a  week,  so  much  the  better." 


IV 

JULIA  slept  the  sleep  of  exhaustion  that  night.  She 
awoke  with  a  start,  screaming,  and  cowered,  before  she 
realized  that  it  was  Mrs.  Winstone  who  stood  by  her  bed. 

But  that  lady,  true  to  her  creed,  pretended  not  to  see. 
"It  is  eleven  o'clock,"  she  said  lightly.  "What  a  sleeper 
you  are!  I  am  off,  but  Hawks  has  orders  to  take  care  of  you. 
I'll  ring  for  your  breakfast.  I've  left  my  addresses  for  the 
next  two  months  in  my  desk.  But  I  hope  you'll  get  on. 
Of  course  I  could  get  you  invited  to  any  of  the  houses, 
but  France  would  hear  of  it,  and  my  clever  fiction  would  be 
spoiled  - 

"I  could  not  visit.  I  shall  be  very  well  here.  You  are 
too  kind." 

Mrs.  Winstone  thought  she  was,  particularly  as  there  was 
not  the  least  prospect  of  reward.  A  cutlet  for  a  cutlet. 
However,  noblesse  oblige.  She  bestowed  a  kiss  on  Julia 
and  sailed  out. 

After  her  bath  and  breakfast  Julia  made  a  careful  toilet 
for  the  first  time  in  many  weeks.  Sometimes  she  had  not 
brushed  or  even  unbraided  her  hair  for  days. 

She  telephoned  to  the  house  in  Park  Lane.  Mr.  Jones 
was  better  and  Lady  Ishbel  had  gone  to  the  shop.  Julia 
left  the  house  immediately  and  drove  to  Bond  Street. 

There  were  several  people  in  the  show-room.  She  went 
up  to  the  boudoir  which  had  witnessed  so  many  gay  little 
teas  and  so  many  confidential  chats.  It  was  an  hour  before 
Ishbel  came  running  up  the  stairs  and  flung  her  arms  about 
Julia. 

"You  dear  thing!"  she  cried.  "How  I  have  worried 
about  you.  You  wouldn't  answer  my  notes.  And  you 
look  like  a  ghost !  I  was  afraid  - 

"You  are  in  trouble,  too.     You  look  worn  out  - 

212 


HAROLD    FRANCE  213 

"Oh,  poor  Jimmy !  He's  ruined,  and  has  had  a  stroke. 
There's  tragedy  for  you.  How  he  fought  -and  he  hated 
to  take  my  jewels,  poor  dear.  I'm  hunting  for  a  little  house 
to  take  him  to  — he  clings  to  me;  it's  pitiful.  The  doctor 
wants  him  to  go  to  a  nursing  home,  but  I  couldn't !  I'll 
do  my  best.  And,"  with  a  sudden  dash  into  her  more 
familiar  self,  "all  my  beaux  will  go  to  South  Africa;  I 
shall  have  time  for  my  invalid.  That's  all  there  is  of 
my  story.  Tell  me  yours." 

"I've  come  to  take  you  at  your  word  —  you  once  prom 
ised  to  teach  me  how  to  trim  hats  —  to  help  me  earn  my 
bread  - 

"So  !  It's  come!     Bridgit  and  I  have  been  expecting  it." 

Julia  told  her  story,  all  that  could  be  told,  as  briefly  as 
possible.  She  was,  in  truth,  deeply  ashamed  of  it,  and,  after 
her  aunt's  rebuff,  felt  no  longer  any  yearning  for  sympathy. 
But  Ishbel  wept  bitterly. 

"How  I  wish  we  could  have  rescued  you  in  the  begin 
ning,  as  we  planned  !  It  was  criminal  of  us  to  give  it  up." 
She  dried  her  eyes.  "There  !  It  has  done  me  good  to  cry. 
Literally  I  have  had  not  a  moment  to  shed  a  tear  on  my  own 
account.  Of  course  I'll  put  you  to  work  at  once,  and  when  I 
get  a  little  house  you  will  live  with  me.  It  will  be  too  nice. 
I've  never  had  half  enough  of  you.  I  suppose  you  could 
tear  yourself  away  from  Mrs.  Winstone.  How  did  she 
receive  you?" 

"Oh,'shc's  frightfully  cut  up.  ' Scandal' -  -' work  '-- 1 
don't  know  which  she  fears  most.  But  I  could  see  she  was 
relieved  to  learn  that  Harold  had  kept  himself  inside  the 
law." 

"She  must  feel  as  if  she  were  the  author  of  a  book  called 
'  The  lost  duchess  ! '  Well,  we  won't  mortify  her  publicly  for 
some  time.  Of  course  you  must  stay  out  of  the  salesroom 
for  a  while,  or  France  would  trace  you.  In  the  workroom, 
no  one,  not  even  Mrs.  Winstone,  will  be  any  the  wiser.  Will 
you  come  house-hunting  with  me?" 

A  fortnight  later.  Ishbel,  with  that  latent  energy  of  which 
she  betrayed  so  little  in  manner  and  appearance,  had 


214  JULIA  FRANCE   AND  HER  TIMES 

furnished  a  villa  in  St.  John's  Wood,  installed  Mr.  Jones 
and  the  servants,  and  turned  over  the  house  in  Park  Lane 
to  the  creditors.  As  she  was  obliged  to  keep  both  a  valet 
and  a  nurse  for  Mr.  Jones,  there  was  no  spare  room  for 
Julia,  but  there  were  lodgings  close  by,  and  it  was  arranged 
that  she  was  to  dine  every  night  at  the  villa. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  accommodation  on  this  round  globe 
as  dreary  as  a  London  suburban  lodging,  but  Ishbel  adorned 
the  little  rooms  out  of  her  own  superfluities,  and  Julia  was 
so  thankful  to  be  alone  and  free  that  she  would  have  settled 
down  to  the  dingy  carpet  and  grimy  furniture  without  a 
murmur.  And  she  had  no  time  to  mope  or  think.  It  would 
be  long  before  she  recovered  the  buoyancy  of  her  nature, 
for  she  had  told  Mrs.  Winstone  and  Ishbel' little  of  the 
horrors  of  those  three  months  alone  with  her  husband.  But 
when  indignities  are  too  odious  to  take  to  the  most  intimate 
and  sympathetic  ear,  the  only  thing  to  do  is  to  banish  them 
from  the  memory;  and  this  Julia  did  to  the  best  of  her 
ability. 

She  found  a  certain  fascination  in  working  with  her  hands, 
although  she  did  not  take  kindly  to  the  crowded  workroom. 
Ishbel,  who  never  drove  any  of  her  people  when  she  could 
avoid  it,  made  her  hours  as  few  as  possible.  But  her 
seclusion  was  of  short  duration.  France  wrote  to  Mrs. 
Winstone,  threatening  her  with  the  law,  but,  taking  her 
communication  literally,  flung  himself  off  to  South  Africa. 
After  his  departure  Julia  spent  a  part  of  each  day  in  the  show 
room,  although  she  continued  to  trim  hats;  her  fingers 
proving  nimble  and  apt,  she  was  determined  to  learn 
the  business.  In  the  show-room  she  met  many  of  her  old 
acquaintances,  and  Mrs.  Winstone  waxed  so  indignant  that 
communication  between  them  ceased.  The  duke,  who 
never  found  politics  amusing  when  his  party  was  busy  ex 
terminating  mosquitoes,  and  who  at  the  moment  was  wholly 
absorbed  in  his  wife  and  in  his  prospects  of  an  heir,  re 
mained  at  Bosquith  for  a  year  on  end  ;  if  he  thought  about 
Julia  at  all,  he  supposed  her  to  be  at  White  Lodge. 

Her  personal  life  flowed  on  peacefully  for  eight  months. 


HAROLD   FRANCE  215 

The  past  faded  into  the  limbo  of  nightmares.  She  made 
little  more  than  enough  to  pay  for  her  rooms  and  two  meals, 
but  even  had  she  found  time  to  miss  the  beautiful  garments 
she  had  loved,  she  would  have  had  no  occasion  to  use  them. 
No  one  entertained.  All  England  was  in  mourning. 
Hardly  a  family  of  any  size  but  had  lost  one  or  more  of  its 
men,  particularly  if  the  men  were  officers.  Ishbel's  milliners 
and  dressmakers  worked  all  day  on  black,  nothing  but  black. 
So  constant,  and  always  sudden,  was  the  demand  for  mourn 
ing  trousseaux  that  she  and  Julia  often  worked  at  night  after 
the  women,  worn  out,  had  gone  home. 

And  those  that  had  no  men  at  the  front  to  be  killed  were 
ashamed  to  admit  it,  to  be  out  of  the  fashion,  and  swelled 
the  demands  for  mourning.  The  Americans,  resident  in 
London,  felt  "out  of  it"  in  colors,  and  even  those  come  on 
their  annual  pilgrimage  were  advised  to  wear  black-and- 
white  or  dull  gray.  Ishbel  and  Julia  laughed  sometimes  over 
their  work  and  speculated  as  to  the  origin  of  other  fads, 
but  they  were  too  busy  and  too  tired  for  more  than  the 
passing  jest.  All  England  was  sad  enough  without  pretence, 
and  worrying  not  only  for  relatives  and  friends  at  the  front, 
but  for  the  nation's  prestige.  Julia  and  Ishbel,  at  dinner, 
talked  of  little  else  but  the  news  in  the  evening  bulletins,  and 
often  it  was  of  a  personal  nature.  Nigel  Herbert  had  been 
among  the  first  to  volunteer,  had  been  wounded  at  Vaal 
Kranz,  recovered,  and  was  fighting  again,  besides  cor 
responding  with  one  of  the  great  dailies.  Two  of  Ishbel's 
admirers  had  died  at  Ladysmith,  one  of  enteric,  the  other 
in  a  reckless  sortie.  Still  another  was  in  hospital  with  two 
bullets  in  him ;  and  beyond  the  brief  despatch  which  con 
veyed  this  news  to  the  press,  she  had  heard  nothing.  His 
going  had  solved  a  problem,  but  she  was  thankful  for  her 
work.  Geoffrey  Herbert  had  been  killed  at  Paardeberg, 
and  Bridgithad  gone  out  to  the  Cape  with  hospital  supplier 

Of  France  not  a  word  was  heard  until  June  i2th.  when 
his  name  was  among  the  list  of  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Diamond  Hill.  Two  months  later  Julia  read  of  his  arrival 
in  England. 


ON  these  warm  August  evenings  Ishbel  and  Julia  had  their 
dinner  in  the  garden  under  a  beech  tree.  Ishbel 's  bright 
courage  seldom  failed  her,  but  she  was  grateful  for  Julia's 
companionship  and  help  during  this  the  most  trying 
period  of  her  life,  and  Julia,  glad  to  be  necessary  to  some 
one,  above  all  to  her  favorite  friend,  responded  without  any 
of  the  usual  feminine  fervors,  and  the  harmony  between  them 
remained  unbroken.  Mr.  Jones,  helpless  in  body  and 
bitter  in  mind,  demanded  every  moment  his  wife  could  give 
him,  but  occasionally  permitted  Julia  to  take  her  place  and 
read  the  war  news  aloud. 

Between  the  defeat  of  the  Boer  forces  at  Diamond  Hill 
and  the  beginning  of  Kitchener's  " drives,"  there  was  less 
demand  for  mourning  garments;  the  war,  indeed,  was 
believed  to  be  over.  Ishbel  and  Julia  rose  later  and  left  the 
shop  earlier.  Both  were  haggard  and  needed  rest.  They 
made  a  deliberate  attempt  to  enjoy  their  evening  meal, 
refusing  to  discuss  immediate  deaths  and  hypothetical 
disaster,  and  tabuing  personal  topics.  There  was  still  plenty 
to  discuss,  and  so  many  reminiscences  of  officers  that  had 
left  their  lives  or  their  looks  in  the  South  African  graveyard, 
that  it  was  easy  to  steer  cleai  of  private  anxieties.  But  one 
evening  after  the  cloth  was  removed  and  they  were  alone, 
Julia  said  abruptly :  — 

"I  had  a  letter  from  Harold  to-day  —  directed  to  the 
shop.  He  had  just  learned  that  I  had  not  gone  to  Nevis. 
He  did  not  say  who  gave  him  my  address  - 

"Yes?1  The  word  had  a  fashion  of  flying  from  Ishbcl's 
lips  at  all  times.  Now  she  sat  forward  in  alarm.  "  Yes  ?" 

"He  says  that  I  am  to  return  to  White  Lodge  to-mor 
row.'* 

"But  of  course  you  will  not !" 

216 


HAROLD   FRANCE  217 

"  Of  course  not.  I  consulted  a  solicitor  some  time  ago. 
He  cannot  compel  me  to  live  with  him.  On  the  other 
hand—" 

"Yes?" 

"As  I  am  unable  to  get  a  legal  separation  I  cannot  pre 
vent  him  from  forcing  himself  into  my  rooms,  annoying 
me  in  a  thousand  ways.  He  might  even  come  to  the  shop 
and  make  a  scene." 

"Well,  it  is  my  shop,  and  I  can  have  him  put  out.  Did 
you  tell  the  solicitor  other  things  ?  Is  there  really  no  chance 
of  a  legal  separation  ?" 

"He  did  not  seem  to  think  well  of  my  reasons  for  wanting 
one.  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  tell  him  much,  and  I  have 
kept  it  in  the  background  so  long  it  seemed  rather  dim  and 
flat  — the  little  I  did  tell  him.  He  said  that  mental 
cruelty  existed  largely  in  women's  imaginations.  Then 
he  consoled  me  by  adding  that  if  I  refused  to  return,  Harold 
might  be  betrayed  into  some  overt  act  before  witnesses, 
perhaps  later  give  me  cause  for  divorce.  But  I  don't 
think  so.  He  is  very  cunning.  His  instinct  for  self-protec 
tion  is  almost  abnormal.  I  told  the  lawyer  I  believed 
Harold  to  be  insane,  and  he  was  quite  shocked  ;  said  there 
was  too  much  talk  already  of  insanity  in  the  great  families 
of  Britain,  and  it  was  doing  them  harm  with  the  lower  orders 
-  intimated  that  it  was  my  duty  to  keep  such  an  affliction 
dark  if  it  really  had  descended  upon  the  house  of  France. 
When  I  told  him  I  knew  that  at  least  two  of  Harold's 
ancestors  had  been  shut  up  for  years  at  Bosquith,  and  not 
so  long  ago,  he  fairly  squirmed.  Then  he  advised  me  to 
conceal  both  my  knowledge  and  my  suspicions  if  I  hoped  for 
a  divorce.  The  law  is  far  more  tender  to  its  lunatics 
than  to  their  victims.  Harold,  shut  up  for  twenty  - 
thirty  —  forty  years  would  continue  to  be  my  husband  on 
the  off  chance  of  his  cure  —  while  I  consoled  myself  with 
the  prospect  of  his  release !  On  the  other  hand,  if  left  at 
large  he  may  give  me  cause  for  divorce.  That  was  the  only 
argument  that  appealed  to  me.  My  legal  friend  ended  by 
advising  me  to  return  to  Nevis  —  this,  I  feel  sure,  in  the 


2i8  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

interests  of  the  British  aristocracy.  I'd  like  to  make  over 
a  few  laws  in  this  country." 

"That  is  what  Bridgit  says.  The  women  of  the  lower 
classes  might  almost  as  well  be  slaves  in  the  Congo.  They 
can't  divorce  a  merely  drunken  brute,  and  a  legal  separation 
does  them  little  good.  If  a  man  wants  to  desert  his  family 
all  he  has  to  do  is  to  go  to  the  Midlands  or  the  North  and 
disappear  in  a  coal  mine,  while  his  wife,  unable  to  marry  a 
better  man,  sinks  to  the  dregs  in  the  effort  to  support  herself, 
perhaps  half  a  dozen  children.  The  laws  in  this  country 
might  have  been  made  by  Turks.  Who  ever  hears  of  a  man 
being  punished  because  he  is  the  father  of  the  child  a 
wretched  girl  has  murdered?  Oh  —  some  day  —  let  us 
hope  -  But  we  have  the  present  to  deal  with.  Have  you 
answered  France's  letter?" 

"Yes,  I  wrote  him  that  I  never  should  return  to 
him,  that  I  had  had  legal  advice,  that  I  was  able  to 
support  myself,  that  I  wished  never  to  hear  from  him 
again.  Also,  that  any  further  letters  I  received  from  him 
I  should  return  unopened  to  his  club.  I  did  not 
write  a  page,  but  I  fancy  he  cannot  mistake  my 
meaning." 

"I  am  afraid  he  will  persecute  you,  but  you  must  be 
brave.  If  necessary,  you  might  hide  in  the  country  for  a 
bit,  or  go  over  to  Paris  for  me  — 

"I  shall  stay  here  at  work.     He  can  do  his  worst." 

But,  alas,  it  was  always  Harold  France's  good  fortune 
to  be  underrated.  Julia,  well  as  she  knew  him,  had  never 
yet  gauged  the  depth  and  extent  of  his  resources.  Some 
strange  arrest  in  his  mental  development,  possibly  a  for 
gotten  blow  during  boyhood,  or  a  prenatal  check,  had  left 
him  with  a  quick,  cunning,  malicious,  scheming  mind  which 
otherwise  might  have  been  brilliant,  unscrupulous,  and 
resourceful  in  the  grand  manner.  Possibly  it  might  have 
been  useful  as  well ;  and  this  may  have  been  the  secret  of 
those  vague  angry  ambitions,  always  seething  in  the  base 
of  his  cramped  brain.  Whatever  the  cause,  his  mind 
required  a  constant  grievance  to  feed  on,  and  whatever  his 


HAROLD    FRANCE  219 

limitations,  they  were  never  too  great  to  interfere  with  the 
success  of  his  devilish  purposes. 

Three  mornings  later  Ishbel  and  Julia  arrived  in  Bond 
Street  at  a  few  minutes  before  eleven.  Royalty  was  ex 
pected  at  a  quarter  past,  and  as  they  ascended  the  stairs 
they  were  not  surprised  to  see  the  forewoman,  pale  and 
trembling,  standing  at  the  turn.  When  royalty  had 
arrived  —  unheralded  —  the  day  before,  she  had  almost 
wept,  and  her  assistant  had  succumbed  and  been  obliged 
to  leave  the  room.  It  was  the  first  time  that  royalty  had 
honored  the  shop  in  Bond  Street,  smart  as  it  was,  and  when 
the  princess  left  she  had  announced  that  on  the  morrow  she 
should  return  with  her  two  girls.  Ishbel  had  felt  sure  that  her 
women  would  not  close  their  eyes  during  the  night,  and  be 
quite  unfit  for  the  strain  of  the  second  visit.  Therefore, 
she  laughed  merrily  as  she  saw  Miss  Slocum's  twisted  visage. 

" Brace  up  !  Brace  up  !"  she  cried.  "You  have  nearly 
twenty  minutes  yet.  And  am  I  not  here?  Mrs.  France 
and  I  will  wait  on  their  royal  highnesses  — 

"Oh,  your  ladyship,"  wailed  the  woman.  "It  ain't 
that  —  or,  I  mean  I  could  stand  it  much  better  to-day.  I'd 
made  up  my  mind.  Xo  !  It's  worse  !"  ~ 

"Worse?" 

The  woman  glanced  up  the  half  flight  behind  her.  The 
door  leading  into  the  show-room  was  closed.  "Oh,  your 
ladyship,  there's  two  awful  creatures  in  there,  and  their 
royal  highnesses  coming  in  ten  minutes.  I  told  them  to  go  — 

"  But  I  don't  understand.  Every  one  has  a  right  to  come 
here.  I  can't  have  any  of  my  customers  put  out  for  royalty. 
I  am  not  being  honored  by  a  call.  This  is  a  shop  - 

"Oh,  yes,  my  lady,  but  you  don't  understand.  You've 
never  had  this  sort  - 

"What  sort?" 

The  woman's  voice  quavered  and  broke.  "Tarts,  my 
lady.  Regular  Piccadilly  trotters,  that's  what !" 

Ishbel  was  as  dismayed  as  the  woman  could  wish. 
Followed  by  her  equally  horrified  friend  she  brushed  the 
forewoman  aside,  ran  up  the  stair,  and  entered  the  show- 


220  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

room.  The  large  windows,  open  to  the  gay  subdued  roar 
of  Bond  Street,  let  in  a  flood  of  mellow  sunshine.  The 
square  room,  not  too  large,  and  with  a  mere  suggestion  of 
the  First  Empire  in  its  wall  paper  and  scant  furniture,  was 
a  severe  yet  delicate  background  for  the  most  charming 
hats  ever  seen  in  London.  Of  every  shape  and  size,  but 
each  touched  with  a  fairy's  wand,  these  harbingers  of 
autumn,  hopefully  prismatic,  and  mounted  on  slender  rods, 
seemed  to  sing  that  woman's  face  was  naught  without  its 
frame,  and  that  in  them  alone  was  the  problem  of  the 
floating  decoration  solved. 

But  alas  !  no  such  fantasie  was  in  the  air  this  morning. 
"Creatures,"  in  truth  !  Two  females,  loudly  dyed,  rouged, 
blackened,  bedecked  in  cheap  finery,  were  overhauling 
hats,  mantles,  and  chiffons,  despite  the  protests  of  the  livid 
assistant.  Ishbel  went  directly  up  to  the  largest  and  most 
aggressive. 

"I  am  so  sorry,"  she  said  with  her  sweet  remote  smile  and 
her  bright  crisp  manner,  "but  I  must  ask  you  to  go.  Some 
other  time  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  show  you  the  things, 
but  just  now  everything  must  be  put  in  order  as  quickly 
as  possible.  I  am  expecting  patrons  who  are  in  town  only 
for  the  moment.  As  you  see,  this  room  is  not  very  large. 
Be  quick,  Jeannie,  will  you?" 

She  turned  her  back  on  the  two  women,  but  the  largest 
walked  deliberately  round  in  front  of  her. 

"I  say,"  she  said,  "are  you  the  boss?" 

"I  am  —  Jeannie  - 

"I  say.  What's  a  shop  for  if  ladies  can't  call  and  see 
things  ?  Is  this  a  private  shop  for  your  friends  ? ! 

"No,  but  this  morning  is  exceptional.  I  really  must  ask 
you  to  go—  "  she  glanced  at  the  clock.  It  was  nearly  ten 
minutes  past  eleven,  and  royalty  was  hideously  prompt. 
"I  dislike  being  rude,  but  I  must  ask  you  to  go  at  once." 

"Really,  now!"  The  woman  sat  herself  on  the  little 
sofa  before  the  mantel  and  spread  out  her  gaudy  skirts. 
"I  ain't  going  to  be  put  out.  Brass  is  brass,  and  mine's  as 
good  as  any.  Wot  you  say,  Frenchie  ?  " 


HAROLD   FRANCE  221 

"That's  what."  Her  partner  was  holding  a  large  hat  on 
her  uplifted  arm,  and  twirling  it  from  side  to  side.  "And  I 
want  a  hat.  Don't  mind  trying  'em  all  on,  one  by  one." 

"If  you  don't  go  at  once,  I  shall  call  the  police." 

"  Police  ?  Wot  for  ?  Ain't  we  behaving  ourselves  proper  ? 
I  call  that  libel,  I  do." 

At  this  moment  the  door,  which  Ishbel  had  taken  care  to 
close,  flew  open,  and  royalty  entered,  followed  by  two  slim 
young  daughters.  The  eyes  of  the  lady  on  the  sofa  bulged, 
but  her  presence  of  mind  did  not  desert  her.  She  sprang 
to  her  feet  and  threw  her  arm  round  Ishbel's  waist. 

"Your  hats  are  too  sweet,  dearie,"  she  exclaimed.  "I 
shall  take  four  to-day  and  come  back  to-morrow  - 

At  the  same  moment  the  other  woman,  who  had  dropped 
the  hat,  lit  a  cigarette. 

Royalty  gasped,  made  a  motion  not  unlike  that  of  a 
mother  hen  when  she  spreads  her  wings  to  protect  her  chicks 
from  a  sudden  shower,  then  shooed  her  girls  out  and  down 
the  stairs. 

Ishbel  made  no  motion  to  detain  her.  No  explana 
tion  was  possible.  She  saw  ruin,  but  she  merely  removed 
her  waist  from  the  embrace  of  the  woman  and  turned  her 
white  composed  face  upon  both  of  the  invaders. 

"Will  you  explain  what  spite  you  have  against  me?" 
she  asked. 

"Oh! "cried  Julia,  passionately.  "Can't  you  see? 
France  has  sent  them." 

"Right  you  are,  dearie,"  said  the  younger  cocottc, 
smoking  comfortably.  "And  here  we  stay  till  you  pack 
up  and  go  home  to  your  lawful  husband.  Luck\  you  arc 
to  have  one.  Oh,  yes,  my  lady,  you  can  call  in  the  bobbies, 
but  this  is  the  middle  of  Bond  Street,  and  we'll  raise  such  a 
hell  of  a  row  as  we're  being  dragged  out  there  won't  be 
anybody  else  coming  up  here  in  a  hurry." 

Julia  turned  to  her.  "If  I  leave  this  shop  and  promise 
never  to  return,  will  you  agree  to  do  the  same?" 

"If  you  go  back  to  your  husband.  If  you  don't,  here  we, 
and  more  of  us,  come  every  day,  unless,  of  course,  her  lady- 


222  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

ship  has  us  put  out !  Your  leaving  the  shop  won't  help 
matters  any.  You  go  back  to  White  Lodge.  France  is  an 
old  pal  of  mine,  but  it  isn't  often  we  see  his  brass.  Jolly 
lark  this  is,  too." 

"Very  well,"  said  Julia.     "I  shall  go." 

"You  shall  not!"  cried  Ishbel,  passionately.  "My 
business  is  ruined  in  any  case.  We  can  go  to  America  - 

"And  leave  Mr.  Jones?  He  is  dependent  upon  you  for 
shelter.  Your  business  is  not  ruined.  Of  course  the  prin 
cess  will  not  come  again,  but  you  have  powerful  friends 
that  will  explain  to  her  and  prevent  the  story  from  spread 
ing - 

"Right  you  are.  France  ain't  aiming  to  spite  her.  But 
he'll  ruin  every  friend  you've  got  unless  you  go  home,  double 
quick." 

"I  shall  go  this  afternoon."  And  Julia  ran  down  the 
stairs  and  out  of  the  building  before  Ishbel  could  detain  her. 


VI 

JULIA  took  a  closed  fly  at  Stanmore,  and  in  the  avenue  of 
White  Lodge  her  eyes  moved  constantly  from  one  window  to 
the  other.  But  on  this  bright  hot  afternoon  there  was 
neither  sound  nor  motion  in  the  woods.  She  feared  that  the 
house  might  be  without  servants,  but  as  the  fly  entered 
the  garden  she  saw  that  the  windows  were  open  and  that 
smoke  rose  from  the  kitchen  chimney.  White  Lodge  was 
built  round  three  sides  of  a  shallow  court,  and  after  dis 
missing  the  fly,  she  attempted  to  open  the  door  on  her  right, 
as  it  was  close  to  the  stair  which  communicated  with  the 
hallway  outside  her  own  rooms.  But  this  door  was  locked. 
So  apparently  were  the  central  doors,  but  the  one  opposite 
and  leading  into  the  dining  room  was  open,  and  not  caring  to 
ring  and  announce  herself,  she  crossed  the  court  and  entered; 
althought  this  meant  that  she  must  traverse  the  entire 
house  to  reach  the  comparative  shelter  of  her  own  apart 
ment.  The  large  rooms  were  full  of  light,  but  she  was 
nearly  ten  minutes  arriving  at  her  destination,  for  she 
opened  every  door  warily,  and  explored  dark  corridors  with 
her  eyes  before  she  put  her  foot  in  them.  But  even  on  the 
twisted  stair  she  met  no  one,  and  the  house  was  as  silent 
as  the  wood. 

When  she  entered  her  boudoir,  she  saw  that  the  door  lead 
ing  into  her  bedroom  was  closed.  For  a  moment  she  was 
grateful,  as  it  was  a  room  of  hideous  memories,  and  she  in 
tended  to  sleep  on  her  wide  sofa  as  long  as  she  was  obliged 
to  remain  at  White  Lodge.  Then  she  remembered  that  its 
inner  door  led  into  France's  rooms,  and  that  she  intended 
to  move  a  heavy  piece  of  furniture  across  it. 

She  opened  the  door  cautiously  and  looked  in.  This 
room  was  very  dark  and  close;  the  heavy  curtains  were 
drawn  across  the  windows.  By  such  light  as  she  had  let  in 
she  could  define  nothing  but  shapeless  masses  of  heavy  fur- 

223 


224  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

niture,  not  an  outline;  it  would  have  been  difficult  to 
tell  a  man  from  a  bedpost.  She  was  about  to  close  the  door 
and  ring  for  a  servant  when  the  one  opposite  opened  and  the 
big  frame  of  her  husband  seemed  to  till  the  sudden  panel  of 
light.  There  was  not  a  key  in  the  boudoir,  nor  time  to 
move  furniture.  Julia  retreated  behind  a  table. 

France  crossed  the  inner  room  at  his  leisure  and  entered. 
Julia  almost  relieved  the  tension  of  her  feelings  by  laughing 
aloud.  Every  man  that  had  come  back  from  the  Boer  war 
looked  ten  years  older,  but  she  had  seen  no  one  before  that 
looked  ridiculous  as  well.  Not  only  were  his  stiff  hair  and 
moustache  gray  and  his  bony  face  gaunt,  but  the  copper 
color  of  the  tan  he  had  acquired  during  the  months  preceding 
his  weeks  in  hospital  clung  to  his  pallid  face  in  patches, 
making  him  look  as  if  afflicted  with  some  foul  disease;  and 
he  had  lost  a  front  tooth.  His  glassy  eyes,  however,  were 
less  dull,  and  moved  restlessly. 

"Howd'y  do?"  he  said.  " Didn't  expect  you  till  to-night 
or  to-morrow.  Good  girls  !  Good  girls  !" 

He  was  about  to  turn  the  corner  of  the  table  when  he 
paused  abruptly  and  his  jaw  fell.  He  found  himself  look 
ing  into  the  barrel  of  a  small  revolver. 

"Sit  down,"  said  Julia.  "I'm  willing  to  talk  to  you  for 
a  few  moments,  but  if  you  come  a  step  nearer,  I'll  shoot." 

France  made  a  movement  as  if  he  would  spring.  The 
pistol  advanced,  and  he  stood  staring  into  the  thing.  He 
was  a  brave  man  on  the  battlefield,  but  he  had  never  looked 
into  the  mouth  of  a  firearm  at  close  range,  and  he  disliked 
the  sensation  it  induced.  He  gave  a  loud  laugh  and  sat  down. 

"Oh,  well,  my  lady,  have  your  dramatics.  I  can  wait. 
What've  you  got  to  say  ?  Seems  to  me  you  should  have 
a  good  deal.  Nice  pair  of  liars  you  and  your  aunt !" 

Julia  took  the  chair  directly  opposite  his. 

"I  have  come  back  - 

"Oh,  I  say  !  That  thing  will  go  off.  Pistols  were  not 
made  for  women  to  fool  with." 

Julia  put  the  pistol  in  her  lap. 

"I  have  returned  to  White  Lodge  to  protect  Ishbel,  and 


HAROLD   FRANCE  225 

for  no  other  reason.  Your  plot  was  fiendish,  and  you  won 
out.  But  I  win  now.  I  shall  not  leave  you  again,  but  I 
shall  be  my  own  mistress.  I  shall  no  longer  call  you  names 
nor  attempt  to  make  you  understand  how  I  loathe  you,  but 
if  you  ever  enter  my  rooms  again  or  attempt  to  touch  me, 
here  or  elsewhere,  I  shall  shoot  you  without  further  notice  ! ' 

"Oh,  you  will!  And  how  long  do  you  think  you  can 
keep  that  sort  of  heroics  up?  You've  got  to  sleep,  and 
there's  not  a  key  in  your  rooms." 

"There  will  be  to-morrow.  I  left  orders  with  the  lock 
smith  in  Stanmore.  I  need  not  sleep  to-night,  and  I  shall 
meet  him  when  he  comes,  and  stand  guard  with  this  pistol. 
You  interfere  at  your  peril." 

"And  do  you  think  that  keys  can  keep  me  out? 

"I  shall  use  both  keys  and  heavy  pieces  of  furniture. 
You  cannot  enter  without  making  noise  enough  to  rouse  me. 
And  if  you  succeeded,  you  would  gain  nothing.  I  can  always 
kill  myself.  I  would  boil  in  oil  before  you  should  ever 
touch  me  again." 

"You  are  hard  for  such  a  young  'un,"  muttered  France. 
"  Gad,  your  eyes  are  like  ice  !  "  He  made  a  motion  as  if  to 
cover  his  own  eyes,  but  they  flashed  with  exultation,  and 
he  dropped  his  hand. 

"Look  here,"  he  said.  "You  can't  get  the  best  of  me. 
I  gave  you  to  understand  there  was  to  be  no  compromise. 
You  were  to  come  back  to  me,  or  your  Ishbel  would  be 
ruined.  Well,  that's  what  I  meant.  You  chuck  that  pis 
tol,  and  you  do  everything  else  I  tell  you  to  do,  or  I  send 
those  tarts  back  to  the  shop." 

"I  can  do  no  more  to  protect  Ishbel  than  I  have  done  al 
ready.  But  I  shall  not  live  to  see  my  best  friend  disgraced 
and  ruined." 

"  Curse  you  ! "  shouted  France.     "  Curse  you  ! " 

"Now  suppose  you  listen  to  me  a  moment.  Since  you 
left  England  I  have  consulted  not  only  a  solicitor  but  an 
alienist  - 

"A  — a  — what  - 

"  I  believe  you  to  be  mad  - 
Q 


226  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

11  Don't !  Don't !"  France's  face  was  gray  and  loose. 
His  eyes  rolled  with  terror. 

But  Julia  went  on  remorselessly,  pressing  the  suggestion 
home. 

"The  doctor  told  me  that  it  might  be  years  before  you 
would  develop  acute  mania.  Unfortunately,  your  rotten 
spot  has  not  developed  the  lust  to  kill,  or  you  would  easily 
be  got  rid  of.  You  can  practise  your  former  methods  of 
cruelty  on  me  no  more,  but  let  this  fact  compensate  you  — 
keep  you  quiet.  Use  it  as  a  cud ;  chew  on  it  and  exult. 
It  should  satisfy  you  for  the  rest  of  your  life.  This  is  it : 
you  have  destroyed  my  youth,  you  have  killed  my  soul, 
you  have  ruined  my  power  of  enjoyment  in  anything,  you 
have  left  me  nothing  but  a  mind  to  carry  me  through  the 
rest  of  my  days.  Even  if  you  had  died  in  Africa,  I  should 
never  have  given  even  a  thought  to  loving  and  being  loved 
like  other  women.  For  me  you  symbolize  man  and  all 
the  horrors  that  are  in  him.  I  live  because  my  mind  com 
pels  it,  and  because  rny  mother  is  still  alive.  If  this  state 
ment  does  not  give  you  food  for  gloating,  if  you  are  inca 
pable  of  understanding  what  I  mean,  then  —  "  She  laid  her 
pistol  on  the  table  again  and  tapped  it  significantly. 

But  France  took  no  notice  of  the  pistol.  He  was  staring 
at  her  with  his  jaw  relaxed,  and  his  eyes  still  full  of  horror. 

"  Did  —  didn't  —  he  say  I  might  never  go  mad  ?  " 

"So  you  have  thought  of  it  yourself  ?" 

"No  —  no  —  not  really.  But  out  there  when  I  lay  all 
night  on  that  cursed  veldt,  and  expected  to  die  before 
they  found  me  —  I  thought  —  thought  —  I  had  gone 
pretty  far  here,  even  for  me  -  No !  No !  No /  I 
never  really  thought  it  —  it  was  only  when  I  came  to  in 
hospital  I  was  jolly  glad  to  find  that  it  had  only  been  de 
lirium  —  any  one  might  mistake  delirium  —  curse  you, 
you  red-headed  witch !  I  had  forgotten  all  about  it." 

'And  do  you  suppose  that  even  if  you  had  no  inherited 
tendency  to  insanity,  you  could  go  the  pace  you  did,  do  the 
things  you  have  done  for  years,  and  not  rot  your  brain  - 

"How  many  men  go  the  pace  — " 


HAROLD    FRANCE  227 

"Not  yours.  If  you  hadn't  compelled  me  to  return  to 
you,  I  should  have  had  you  watched  - 

"  You  mean  to  say  you'd  lock  me  up  - 

"  I  shouldn't  waste  a  minute.  You  ought  to  be  locked  up 
on  general  principles.  It's  a  half-baked  civilization  that 
permits  you  and  your  sort  to  be  at  large.  Strange  laws  ! 
Strange  justice  !" 

France  gathered  himself  together  and  stood  up,  but  he 
leaned  heavily  on  the  table.  "You've  got  your  revenge," 
he  said  thickly.  "Nothin'  I  ever  did  crueller  to  you 'or 
any  one  than  tell  a  man  his  brain's  rotten  —  and  makin' 
him  believe  it !  Oh,  God  !  Those  eyes  !  If  ever  I  do  go 
mad,  I'll  see  nothing  else." 

"  Better  think  no  more  about  it."  Julia,  having  subdued 
her  keeper,  felt  a  pang  of  remorse  and  pity.  "Take  my 
advice  and  go  to  Bosquith  for  the  shooting  - 

"And  see  that  brat?" 

"The  duke  will  think  the  more  of  you.  Remember  he 
is  not  compelled  to  allow  you  a  thousand  a  year.  He  has 
a  sensitive  vanity,  and  resents  lack  of  attention.  Besides, 
the  sport  will  do  you  good." 

"And  you?" 

"I  shall  stay  here." 

"And  never  leave  the  place?" 

"I  shall  go  to  London  for  the  day  whenever  I  choose,  and 
I  shall  ride  and  walk  about  the  country.  I  have  no  desire 
to  see  any  of  my  neighbors." 

"Very  well.  I'll  go.  I've  got  to  pull  myself  together. 
I  can't  do  it  here.  I'm  still  off  my  feed,  or  you  wouldn't 
have  bowled  me  over  like  this.  Before  I  come  back,  I'll 
have  thought  out  how  to  deal  with  you  - 

Julia  tapped  the  pistol  again.  "I  have  five  others.  I 
shall  conceal  them  in  different  parts  of  the  house,  and  carry 
this  always." 

France  gave  a  strangled  cry  and  began  to  curse,  with  re 
viving  enthusiasm. 

Julia  rose  and  leaned  across  the  table. 

"Be  careful,"  she  said  softly.     "Keep  calm.     You  are 


228  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

forty-six,  your  heart  is  not  good,  and  blood  cannot  surge 
through  your  brain  much  longer  with  impunity.  Unless 
you  choose  to  court  apoplexy  - 

But  France  had  bolted  from  the  room.     An  hour  later 
he  was  on  his  way  to  Bosquith. 


VII 

HE  didn't  return  for  a  month.  During  that  time  Julia 
did  not  go  to  London.  She  was  glad  to  be  alone  and  to  rest. 
For  the  first  time  she  realized  how  tired  she  was,  and  enjoyed 
lying  in  bed  late  and  being  waited  on.  She  felt  as  hard 
as  she  appeared  to  France,  and  cynically  made  up  her  mind 
to  select  from  life  such  of  its  physical  and  mental  pleasures 
as  she  could  command  and  enjoy,  since  personality  was 
denied  her.  She  saw  no  hope  in  the  future  except  the 
preservation  of  her  bodily  and  mental  integrity.  Whatever 
else  France  might  compel  her  to  do,  or  however  live,  she 
must  submit,  as  she  could  not  spend  her  life  flourishing  a 
pistol.  Now  that  she  had  found  herself,  knew  that  she 
no  longer  feared  him,  she  guessed  that  he  would  take  no 
further  pleasure  in  frightening  her;  but  the  mere  fact  of 
his  presence  in  the  house  year  after  year  was  enough  to  turn 
her  into  a  mere  shell.  That  she  was  already  one  she  did 
not  quite  believe,  despite  her  bitter  declaration,  for  she 
knew  the  tenacity  of  youth  and  the  buoyancy  of  her  nature  ; 
but  ten  —  twenty  —  thirty  years  ! 

And  how  long  would  her  nerves  last  ?  To  be  forced  to 
live  under  the  same  roof  with  a  man  whose  mere  glance 
made  her  nerves  crawl  was  bad  enough,  but  to  sleep  night 
after  night,  for  months  on  end  (save  when  she  could  per 
suade  him  to  visit),  a  few  yards  from  a  possible  lunatic,  must 
wear  down  the  stoutest  defences  of  will  and  reason.  There 
was  a  double  cause  for  sleeping  with  one  pistol  under  her 
pillow  and  another  under  a  book  on  the  table  beside  her 
bed.  The  situation  had  something  of  grim  humor  in  it  as 
well  as  adventurous  excitement,  and  Julia  shrugged  her 
shoulders  and  felt  grateful  that  she  had  inherited  her 
mother's  nerves. 

But  she  thought  as  little  as  possible,  since  thinking  did 

229 


230  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

no  good.  Moreover,  in  years  she  was-  young,  and  although 
her  spirit  was  curdled  arid  dark  at  present,  its  quality  was 
fine  and  high  ;  and  for  such  spirits  life  is  rarely  long  enough 
to  bury  hope,  save  for  brief  moments,  alive. 

For  the  present  she  read  and  walked  and  rode,  her  surface 
contentment  increased  by  the  cheering  news  from  Ishbel 
that  one  of  her  powerful  aunts,  who  was  a  personal  friend 
of  the  outraged  royal  lady,  had  made  a  satisfactory  ex 
planation  ;  and  the  princess,  to  signify  her  forgiveness  and 
sympathy,  had  ordered  several  hats  sent  to  her  for  inspec 
tion.  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  she  would  risk  a  sec 
ond  shock  by  venturing  into  the  shop  in  Bond  Street  again, 
but  she  was  a  conscientious  soul,  always  recognizing  the 
duties  toward  mere  mortals  imposed  upon  those  of  divine 
origin ;  and  as  discretion  was  a  part  of  her  equipment,  the 
story  never  got  about  town.  Ishbel's  business  was  saved. 
But  it  was  a  long  time  before  Julia  dared  to  enter  that  shop 
again. 

She  heard  France  return,  late  one  night.  She  rose  at 
once,  put  on  her  dressing-gown,  and  sat  on  the  edge  of  her 
bed-sofa,  waiting.  But  although  he  made  an  even  greater 
noise  and  fuss  than  usual,  summoning  the  entire  staff  of 
servants  from  their  beds  to  wait  on  him,  and  spent  at  least 
an  hour  in  the  dining-room,  he  did  not  pass  her  door. 

She  met  him  on  the  following  day  in  the  living-room,  a 
few  moments  before  luncheon.  He  greeted  her  with  an 
almost  regal  courtesy,  asked  after  her  health,  and  then  pre 
ceded  her  into  the  dining-room.  During  the  meal,  although 
he  looked  the  personification  of  serene  amiability,  he  did 
not  address  a  remark  to  her.  Julia,  puzzled  but  relieved, 
noted  that  he  looked 'far  better  than  when  he  had  gone  to 
Bosquith,  that  his  hands  were  steadier,  and  that  he  drank 
nothing.  At  the  end  of  the  meal  he  rose  with  a  slight 
bow  as  if  dismissing  her  —  from  his  thoughts,  no  doubt ! 
and  left  the  room  without  smoking.  It  was  probable  that 
he  was  nursing  his  nerves. 

The  next  day  she  learned  that  he  had  bought  a  string 
of  hunters  and  a  pack  of  fifty  couples.  A  corresponding 


HAROLD   FRAXCE  231 

number  of  grooms  and  helpers  appeared  in  the  stables, 
as  well  as  a  pack  huntsman,  a  kennel  huntsman,  and  whip- 
pers-in.  Hunting  is  the  most  expensive  luxury,  counting 
out  dissipations,  in  which  an  Englishman  can  indulge,  and 
Julia  wondered  at  his  sudden  extravagance.  True,  he  had 
never  stinted  himself  in  anything,  and  he  was  one  of  the 
best-dressed  men  in  England,  but,  then,  he  had  always 
schemed  to  make  some  one  else  pay,  and  since  his  social, 
restoration  his  tailor  had  "carried"  him.  Relieved  as  she 
was  at  his  avoidance  of  her,  and  to  be  excused  from  making 
conversation  at  the  table,  curiosity  overcame  her  in  the 
course  of  a  week,  and  one  night  at  dinner,  when  the  ser 
vants  had  left  the  room,  she  asked  him  if  he  had  joined  the 
Hertfordshire. 

"I  have,"  he  said  graciously. 

"I  thought  hunting  was  so  terribly  expensive." 

"What  of  that?"  he  asked,  with  his  new  grand  air. 
"Whatever  is  due  my  position  I  am  not  likely  to  forget." 

He  uttered  this  copy-book  sentiment,  so  different  from  his 
usual  loose  slang,  as  if  he  had  rehearsed  it,  and  Julia  began 
to  perceive  that  he  had  cut  out  a  new  role  for  himself,  and 
was  wearing  it  with  his  usual  methodical  consistency. 

"  But  can  you  afford  it  ?  You  know  this  is  a  matter  which 
does  not  admit  of  debt  - 

"I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  being  catechised,  but  I  am 
willing  to  gratify  you.  I  satisfied  myself  at  Bosquith  that 
neither  my  cousin  nor  his  child  has  many  months  to  live." 

"But  I  heard  that  the  child  was  healthy,  and  that  the 
duke  was  uncommonly  well." 

"They  arc  both  in  the  last  stages  of  tuberculosis,  B  right's 
disease,  or  diabetes,  I  have  not  made  up  my  mind  which. 
And  I  also  satisiu-d  myself  that  Margaret  will  have  no  more 
children." 

"Oh  !  I  see.     Then  you  expect  to  succeed  shortly." 

"Within  a  year." 

"Then  perhaps  when  you  have  what  you've  always  most 
wanted  in  life,  you  will  let  me  go  my  own  way." 

For  the  first  time  his  glassy  eyes  lit  a  small   sinister 


232  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

torch,  although  they  did  not  meet  hers.     They  had  not  met 
hers  since  his  return. 

"You  will  be  my  duchess  and  do  your  little  to  support 
the  prestige  of  the  great  house  into  which  you  have  had 
the  good  fortune  to  marry.  If  you  leave  me,  or  in  any 
way  bring  discredit  upon  me  and  my  family,  you  know  one 
penalty.  Others  you  will  learn  if  you  cause  me  even  the 
lightest  displeasure." 

Julia  laughed  outright.  "Really,  Harold,  you  were 
about  the  only  man  I  had  never  thought  funny—  for  good 
and  sufficient  reasons  !  Now  you  are  too  absurd,  with  your 
airs  of  superiority  over  the  mere  female,  and  your  new  role 
of  stage  lord.  You  were  more  impressive  when  you  were 
the  ordinary  maje  brute,  for  at  least  you  were  natural. 
You  never  were  intended  for  an  actor." 

"Actor?"  His  tones  were  still  even.  It  seemed  im 
possible  to  ruffle  him.  l<  I  have  told  you  that  I  expect  to  be 
Duke  of  Kingsborough  in  six  months." 

"Even  so.  What  duke  do  you  know  that  puts  on  such 
airs?  Even  Kingsborough  pretends  to  be  simple  and 
democratic." 

"The  great  peers  of  England  have  made  a  mistake  in 
affecting  a  democracy  it  is  impossible  they  should  feel. 
They  have  only  lowered  the  dignity  of  their  position.  I 
propose  to  raise  it.  When  I  am  Kingsborough,  I  shall  re 
store  the  ancient  glories  of  Bosquith,  and  live  as  the  old 
feudal  lords  lived,  with  an  army  of  retainers,  and  a  tenantry 
to  whom  my  lightest  word  is  law.  I  shall  entertain  as 
kings  have  forgotten  how  to  entertain,  and  in  no  village  on 
my  estates  anywhere  shall  an  election  ever  be  held  again." 
"  Good  Lord  !  Do  you  fancy  you  can  turn  back  the 
clock  ?  This  is  the  twentieth  century." 

"I  am  not  the  only  one  who  believes  that  the  clock  wflJ 
turn  back  —  to  absolute  monarchy.  It  is  the  only  solution 
—  barring  Socialism  — if  we  are  to  escape  mob  rule." 

This  was  the  one  thoughtful  remark  he  had  made,  and 
she  looked  at  him  with  a  trifle  less  suspicion,  then  remem 
bered  having  read  an  intensely  conservative  article  in  one 


HAROLD   FRANCE  233 

of  the  reviews,  not  long  since.  She  had  left  it  in  the  library, 
she  recalled.  But  it  was  odd  that  he  should  open  a  review. 
She  had  never  known  him  to  read  anything  but  French 
novels  and  the  Pink  'Un.  Was  he  trying  to  educate  his 
mind,  late  in  life  ?  Far  be  it  from  her  to  discourage  him, 
even  if  it  did  lead  to  impossible  dreams.  She  rose  from  the 
table. 

"Well,  it  will  be  picturesque,"  she  said.  "I  suppose  I 
shall  wear  gold  brocade  to  breakfast  - 

"I  have  not  risen,"  said  France,  in  an  even  remote  tone. 

"  Oh  ?    What  ?    Are  you  practising  on  me  ?  " 

France  turned  almost  purple.  But  he  made  no  reply. 
He  merely  rose  with  great  dignity  and  left  the  room.  Julia 
watched  him  cross  the  court  with  as  much  interest  as  amuse 
ment.  His  back  was  imposing,  regal.  Nature  certainly 
had  started  in  a  lavish  mood  to  fashion  him,  then  suffered 
from  a  fit  of  spleen  when  she  finished  his  shoulders,  and 
vented  it  on  his  head  —  without  and  within  !  Poor  devil, 
what  mortifications  awaited  him  !  For  the  moment  she 
forgot  the  bitter  debt  she  owed  him. 


vm 

ON  the  following  day,  at  luncheon,  France  remarked :  - 

"I  shall  leave  cards  on  the  county.  When  they  are  re 
turned,  no  one  will  be  admitted.  I  do  not  wish  you  to  have 
any  relations  with  my  neighbors." 

"I  haven't  the  least  desire  to  have  any  relations  with  our 
neighbors." 

"And  you  will  exercise  on  foot  hereafter.  I  shall  want 
all  the  mounts." 

"Very  well." 

"  If  you  wish  to  go  to  London,  you  will  walk  to  Stanmore. 
I  have  given  orders  at  the  stables  that  none  are  to  be  taken 
from  you,  and  the  servants  will  take  none  to  Stanmore." 

"Very  well." 

Julia  looked  up,  and  their  eyes  met  for  the  first  time.  In 
his  was  the  strange  glitter  that  had  terrified  her  early  in  her 
married  life  and  with  which  she  had  grown  horribly  familiar 
during  her  previous  sojourn  at  White  Lodge.  It  was  an 
expression  of  utterly  soulless  mirth,  such,  no  doubt,  as  lit 
the  eyes  of  savages  while  watching  their  victims  at  the  stake. 
She  saw  at  once  that  he  was  devising  new  methods  of  tor 
menting  her  and  debated  whether  it  would  be  wiser  to  laugh 
at  him  or  to  let  him  think  he  was  accomplishing  his  purpose. 
Being  now  poised  and  entirely  without  fear,  it  was  her  dis 
position  tc  reveal  herself,  if  only  as  a  compensation  for  what 
he  had  made  her  sutler ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  she  wanted 
what  peace  she  could  get ;  she  felt  no  desire  to  vary  the 
monotony  of  her  life  by  egging  him  on  to  a  point  where,  in 
spite  of  her  pistols  and  her  courage,  he  could  easily,  with 
his  devilish  resource,  make  her  life  unbearable.  She  be 
lieved  that  if  she  possessed  her  soul  in  patience,  he  would 
weary  of  the  game  and  leave,  even  if  he  did  not  fulfil  her 
hopes  and  go  quite  out  of  his  mind  first.  She  decided  to 
temporize,  and  dropped  her  eyes. 

234 


HAROLD   FRANCE  235 

"You  make  my  life  very  hard,  but  I  can  only  submit," 
she  murmured. 

"I  wish  you  never  to  forget  that  you  are,  so  to  speak, 
a  prisoner  of  state." 

Julia  controlled  her  muscles  and  replied  demurely :  — 

"The  king  commands.  I  have  only  to  obey.  I  shall 
probably  expire  of  ennui,  but,  after  all,  I  am  only  a  woman, 
so  what  matter  ?  " 

"Quite  so!" 

Julia  raised  her  lashes.  The  dancing  glitter  in  his  eyes 
was  appalling.  There  was  no  doubt  in  her  mind  at  that 
moment  that  his  complete  loss  of  reason  was  but  a  question 
of  months.  So  much  the  better  if  she  must  merely  humor 
a  madman;  that,  at  least,  was  "managing"  without  loss 
of  self-respect.  She  sighed,  and  looked  wistfully  out  of  the 
window. 

"I  suppose  you  do  not  intend  to  permit  me  to  follow  the 
hounds?" 

"  Certainly  not.  I  intend  that  you  shall  remain  within  the 
walls  of  White  Lodge  for  the  rest  of  your  life  and  do  nothing." 

"Oh,  very  well." 

Having  banished  all  expression  from  her  eyes,  she  looked 
at  him  again.  This  time  he  was  regarding  her  with  con 
descension  and  approval.  "You  may  go  to  your  room," 
he  said. 

She  thanked  him  and  retired  in  good  order. 

He  did  not  address  her  again  for  quite  a  month.  Then 
he  informed  her  that  there  would  be  a  large  hunt  breakfast 
at  the  house  on  the  following  morning,  and  commanded  her 
to  appear.  He  had  already  entertained  a  number  of  red- 
coated  men  at  breakfast,  and  Julia  wondered  at  their  com 
plaisance  in  admitting  him  to  something  like  intimacy; 
for,  in  spite  of  the  position  he  had  enjoyed  for  a  time  as  a 
respectable  benedict  and  heir  to  a  dukedom,  he  had  never 
made  a  friend,  and  it  was  patent  that  he  was  swallowed 
with  many  grimaces.  But  she  guessed  that  noblesse  obliire 
had  much  to  do  with  it.  The  man  had  been  accepted  when 
placed  in  a  position  by  his  powerful  relative  to  press  home 


236  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

his  social  rights ;  therefore,  was  it  impossible,  in  his  fallen 
fortunes,  to  retreat  to  their  old  position,  unless  he  proved 
himself  a  flagrant  cad.  Besides,  he  had  fought  bravely  in 
South  Africa,  and  personal  courage  and  patriotism  compen 
sate  for  many  shortcomings.  Moreover,  he  was  an  ad 
mirable  cross-country  rider.  He  was  safe  enough  for  the 
present. 

She  dressed  herself  with  some  excitement  on  the  following 
morning,  for  it  was  long  since  gayety  of  any  sort  had  entered 
her  life.  But  when  she  stood  in  her  house  gown  among 
some  twenty  men  and  women  in  pink  coats  and  riding  habits, 
all  chattering  of  the  prospective  meet,  and  of  the  one  two 
days  before,  she  felt  sadly  out  of  it,  and  wished  she  had  been 
permitted  to  remain  in  seclusion.  It  was  nearly  two  years 
since  she  had  presided  at  a  hunt  breakfast,  and  then  she 
had  worn  her  own  habit,  and  been  as  keen  for  the  chase  as 
any  of  her  guests.  But  as  she  stood  with  a  group  of  women 
waiting  for  breakfast  to  be  announced,  and  answering  polite 
questions,  assuring  her  indifTerent  neighbors  that  her  frail 
health  alone  forbade  her  joining  them  in  the  field,  she  was 
astonished  to  find  that  she  did  not  envy  them,  nor  did  she 
feel  the  least  desire  to  race  across  the  country  after  a  frantic 
fox.  It  seemed  such  a  futile  attempt  at  self-delusion  in 
the  matter  of  pleasure.  What  had  come  over  her  ?  Had 
she  seen  too  much  of  the  serious  side  of  life  during  her  eight 
months  in  London? 

If  she  had  wondered  at  France's  benevolence  in  permitting 
her  to  meet  his  guests  and  preside  at  his  table,  she  was  not 
long  receiving  enlightenment.  They  sat  opposite  each 
other  in  the  table's  width,  and  before  ten  minutes  had  passed, 
he  opened  upon  her  batteries  which  hardly  could  be  called 
masked.  She  had  almost  forgotten  him,  and  was  laughing 
merrily  at  a  sally  of  the  good-natured  youth  who  sat  on  her 
left,  when  France  leaned  across  the  table  and  said  softly :  - 

"Not  so  loud,  my  dear.  You  have  forgotten  your  man 
ners  this  last  year.  This  is  not  Nevis." 

Julia  was  so  completely  taken  by  surprise  that  to  her 
intense  annoyance  she  colored  violently.  But  she  instantly 


HAROLD   FRANCE  237 

understood  his  new  tactics,  and  blazing  defiance  on 
him,  regardless  of  consequences,  turned  to  her  neighbor. 
Whatever  she  might  submit  to  in  private,  pride  commanded 
that  she  hold  her  own  in  public. 

But  every  time  that  she  answered  a  remark  addressed 
to  her  by  some  one  opposite,  his  dry  sarcastic  glance 
crossed  hers,  and  once  he  said,  raising  his  voice  :  "  Workin' 
in  a  bonnet  shop  doesn't  improve  manners,  by  Jove.  But 
my  wife  is  only  a  child  yet,  and  my  cousin  Kingsborough 
and  Lady  Arabella  worked  too  hard  over  her  not  to  have 
been  rewarded  if  she  could  have  remained  with  them.  Of 
course,  I'm  only  a  rough  sailor." 

There  was  an  intense  and  painful  pause  after  this  speech, 
although  Julia  paid  no  attention,  and  once  more  permitted 
her  musical  laugh,  not  the  least  of  her  charms,  to  ring  out. 
She  fancied  this  was  the  last  time  the  county  would  honor 
White  Lodge,  but  shrewdly  surmised  that  it  was  the  last 
time  they  would  be  invited.  They  had  been  brought  to 
gether  to  satisfy  her  husband's  passion  for  inflicting  torment. 

And  not  once  did  he  betray  himself.  He  looked  superior, 
tolerant,  lightly  annoyed,  but  never  vicious.  His  guests 
pronounced  him  a  cad  by  the  grace  of  God,  but  too  great 
an  ass  to  know  what  he  was  up  to.  They  had  long  since 
accepted  the  fact  that  he  was  off  his  head  about  his  wife ; 
and,  although  this  was  damned  uncomfortable,  could  only 
conclude  that  he  was  trying  in  his  blundering  way  to 
apologize  for  her ;  why,  heaven  only  knew,  as  she  could  give 
him  cards  and  spades  on  breeding.  Julia  secretly  hoped 
that  he  would  suddenly  lose  his  self-control  and  burst  out 
in  a  torrent  of  abuse,  but  France  still  had  sentinels  posted 
at  every  turn  in  his  brain,  and  played  his  part  through 
out  the  breakfast  without  an  instant's  lapse.  He  laughed 
tolerantly  whenever  he  caught  her  making  an  observation 
or  airing  an  opinion,  but  it  was  not  until  just  before  they 
rose  from  the  table  that  he  made  another  attack.  The  in 
cessant  sporting  talk  had  ceased  for  a  moment,  and  some 
one  had  mentioned  Nigel  Herbert's  books,  apropos  of  his 
fine  record  in  South  Africa. 


238  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"Is  he  goin'  to  hammer  away  at  Socialism  for  the  rest  of 
his  life?"  asked  one  of  the  young  women.  " Awful  bore, 
because  he's  an  old  pal  of  mine,  and  I'd  like  to  read  him. 
Do  use  your  influence,  Mrs.  France.  He  thinks  a  towerin' 
lot  of  your  opinion." 

"Oh,  now  !  now  !"  broke  in  France.  "Don't  encourage 
my  little  wife  in  any  of  her  nonsense.  She's  straight,  all 
right,  but  an  awful  little  goose  about  men.  Hope  you 
haven't  turned  her  head,  Lansing,"  addressing  the  young 
man  beside  her.  "She's  only  a  child  yet,  and  devoted  to 
me,  but  I  don't  want  to  be  teased  noon  and  night  for  a  new 
toy." 

"By  God,"  muttered  one  of  the  men,  "let's  take  him 
to  the  duck  pond.  Serves  us  right  for  coming  here.  Wish 
I'd  opposed  his  election.  Silly  asses,  all  of  us.  Leopards 
don't  change  spots.  But  she's  a  brick." 

Julia,  at  least,  had  won  the  admiration  of  the  company 
by  her  attitude,  after  the  first  attack,  of  serene  unconscious 
ness.  She  might  have  been  deaf  and  blind,  and  at  the  same 
time  there  was  no  betraying  note  of  defiance  in  her  voice 
or  flash  in  her  eyes.  It  was  impossible  to  call  France  cruel, 
but  the  guests,  as  they  filed  out,  and  got  on  their  mounts 
as  quickly  as  possible,  voted  that  it  must  be  harder  to  be 
shut  up  with  a  bounder  like  that  than  to  have  lost  the  pros 
pect  of  being  a  duchess. 

After  they  had  gone,  and  Julia  had  brought  the  angry 
blood  from  her  head  by  a  long  tramp  in  the  opposite  direc 
tion,  she  recalled  a  visit  she  had  once  paid  with  France  to 
the  castle  of  a  young  peer  of  the  realm  who  had  married 
a  wealthy  American  girl  for  whom  he  had  conceived  an 
intense  dislike.  This  man  had  appeared  to  take  a  peculiar 
pleasure  in  mortifying  his  wife  in  company,  by  an  irre 
sistible  play  of  wit  directed  at  herself.  Julia  had  felt  a 
passionate  sympathy  for  the  helpless  young  duchess,  who 
had  neither  the  subtlety  of  tongue  nor  the  bad  manners  of 
the  man  who  was  spending  her  money,  and  had  expressed 
her  wrath  to  France  in  no  measured  terms.  France  forgot 
nothing.  When  he  felt  the  time  had  come  for  a  new  weapon, 


HAROLD   FRANCE  239 

he  selected  one  that  is  in  every  husband's  armory,  and, 
although  he  used  it  clumsily,  possessing  nothing  of  the 
young  duke's  cold  irony  and  glancing  wit,  there  was  no 
chance  that  it  should  miss  its  aim. 

Julia  was  apprehensive  that  France,  irritated  at  his  failure 
to  provoke  her  to  retort,  if  not  to  tears,  might  seek  other 
vengeance.  But  when  they  met  on  the  following  day  it 
was  evident  by  the  expression  of  his  eyes  that  he  was  quite 
satisfied.  The  arrogance  of  his  manner,  indeed,  led  her  to 
suspect  that  his  faith  in  himself  was  too  great  to  recognize 
failure  if  it  sprang  at  him,  and  for  small  mercies  she  was 
thankful. 

It  was  nearly  three  months  before  he  addressed  another 
remark  to  her  beyond  polite  phrases  calculated  to  impress 
the  servants.  But  one  morning,  shortly  after  the  first  of  the 
year,  he  sent  her  word  that  he  wished  her  presence  in  the 
library.  She  went  at  once  and  found  him  sitting  before 
the  table  in  a  magisterial  attitude.  Before  him  was  a  long 
itemized  bill. 

"You  have  been  ordering  books,"  he  said  in  a  voice  of 
cutting  reproof,  as  if  speaking  to  a  dependant  who  must  be 
shown  his  place.  "  I  gave  you  no  permission  to  run  up  bills 
of  any  sort." 

"I  have  always  ordered  books  —  for  years,  at  least - 
it  did  not  occur  to  me." 

This  time  Julia  was  deeply  mortified,  and  showed  it  as 
plainly  as  he  could  wish. 

"You  pretend  to  loathe  me  —  your  own  word  —  and  yet 
you  are  not  too  proud  to  run  up  bills  for  me  to  pay." 

Julia's  gorge  rose,  and  her  humiliation  fled.  "You  com 
pel  me  to  live  with  you,  and  I  am  entitled  to  compensation. 
Besides,  after  all,  you  are  my  husband  and  I  see  no  reason 
why  you  should  not  pay  my  bills.  If  you  permit  me  to 
live  away  from  you,  that  is  another  matter.  I  had  nothing 
charged  to  you  while  I  was  earning  my  living." 

"If  you  want  books,  my  lady,  you  can  write  to  your 
mother  for  the  money  to  pay  for  them.  Silly  ass  I  was  to 
marry  a  girl  without  a  penny.  Who  else  would  have  mar- 


24o  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

ried  you  if  I  hadn't,  and  you  thrown  at  my  head?  You 
ought  to  be  thankful  for  bread  and  butter  and  a  roof. 
No  girl  has  a  right  to  marry  a  man  in  my  position  unless 
she  brings  him  her  weight  in  gold." 

"What  a  pity  I  shall  cost  you  so  much  when  I'm  a  duch 
ess,"  said  Julia,  mildly.  "You  would  better  let  me  go  at 
once." 

"When  you  are  a  duchess,  you'll  have  clothes,  but  you'll 
have  no  books,  and  no  more  liberty  than  you  have  here. 
As  for  this  bill,  I'll  pay  it  —  when  I  get  ready  —  but  I  shall 
write  to-day  and  tell  them  that  you  have  no  further  credit. 
You  can  go  now." 

Julia,  as  she  left  the  room,  felt  dismayed  for  the  first  time. 
What  should  she  do  without  books  ?  The  winter  was  very 
wet,  and  English  winters  are  very  long,  and  often  wet. 
She  was  forced  to  remain  indoors  a  good  deal ;  and  to1  sit 
and  hold  her  hands  ! 

In  the  course  of  another  month  she  found  a  new  cause 
for  uneasiness.  Several  times  she  awakened  suddenly  in 
the  night  and  listened  to  heavy  breathing  outside  her  door; 
and  when  France  was  unable  to  hunt  he  prowled  unceas 
ingly  about  the  house  in  the  daytime.  It  was  all  very  well 
to  wish  he  would  go  quite  out  of  his  mind,  but  to  be  forced 
to  accompany  him  through  the  various  stages  might  be  too 
great  an  ordeal  even  for  her  sound  nerves. 


IX 

SHE  stood  one  morning  at  her  window,  staring  out  at  the 
rain.  She  had  evaded  the  question  for  days,  but  she  faced 
it  now.  What  was  she  to  do  ?  She  had  always  despised 
women  with  nerves,  the  strong  fibre  of  her  brain  and  the 
steel  frame  in  her  apparently  frail  body  balancing  her  other 
wise  abundant  femininity.  When  women  had  complained 
to  her  of  nerves,  cried  out  that  they  hated  life,  she  had  felt 
like  an  entomologist  looking  at  specimens  on  a  pin.  \Vhen 
they  had  demanded  sympathy  she  had  asked  them  why,  if 
they  didn't  like  their  life,  they  didn't  go  out  and  make  an 
other.  Bridgit  and  Ishbel  had  done  it,  and  she  had  heard 
of  many  others,  although  few  of  these  were  in  her  own  class. 
Had  not  her  sense  of  fate  been  so  strong,  she  should  have 
gone  herself  years  ago. 

These  superfluous  women  had  not  taken  kindly  to  her 
advice,  and  when  she  had  added  that  strength  was  the 
greatest  achievement  of  the  human  character,  they  had 
merely  stared  at  her.  These  confidences  had  not  been 
many,  but  one  woman  had  replied  petulantly  that  politics 
and  charities  were  not  in  her  line,  and  one  had  reminded 
her  gently  that  a  woman  did  not  always  hold  her  fate  in 
her  hands.  She  had  despised  this  woman  more  than  any 
of  the  others.  In  her  youthful  arrogance  and  conscious 
ness  of  powers  of  some  sort,  she  had  equal  contempt  for  the 
woman  who  submitted  to  detested  conditions,  and  for  the 
man  who  was  too  poor  to  keep  up  his  position  and  yet 
grumbled,  without  seeking  the  obvious  remedy. 

But  her  spirit  was  chastened.  She  had  discovered  one 
woman,  at  least,  that  was  quite  helpless,  and  it  seemed  to 
her  highly  ironic  that  this,  of  all  women,  should  be  hcrsrlf. 
She  had  felt  her  independence  so  keenly  during  the  eight 
months  she*  had  earned  her  bread,  working  as  hard  as  any 
R  241 


242  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

of  her  humble  associates,  after  she  had  persuaded  Ishbel 
that  she  was  broken  in.  She  had  often  been  tried  to  the 
point  of  fainting,  for  she  had  been  accustomed  always  to 
the  open-air  life,  and  it  would  take  more  than  eight  months 
and  a  strong  will  to  make  a  well-oiled  machine  of  her ;  but 
she  had  persisted,  never  thought  of  looking  for  easier  work, 
always  rejoicing  in  her  liberty  and  in  the  independent  spirit 
that  had  bought  it.  Moreover,  she  had  formed  the  habit 
of  work,  and  soon  after  her  return  to  White  Lodge  she  had 
begun  almost  automatically  to  wish  for  a  regular  occupation 
of  some  sort.  She  had  understood  then  why  Ishbel  loved 
her  business  as  she  never  had  loved  society  and  its  pleasures. 
But  after  she  had  made  over  all  the  clothes  she  had  left 
behind  at  her  flight,  and  retrimmed  all  her  hats,  she  realized 
that  there  is  no  joy  to  be  got  out  of  useless  work  ;  with  the 
exception  of  the  hunt  breakfast  she  had  not  even  crossed 
the  path  of  one  of  her  neighbors.  Her  evening  gowns 
alone  had  proved  necessary,  as  France,  the  day  after  -his 
return,  had  issued  an  edict  that  she  was  to  dress  for  dinner. 

She  had  by  no  means  forgotten  her  old  desire  to  write, 
but  although  she  had  essayed  it  more  than  once,  particu 
larly  during  the  past  month,  she  could  rouse  her  mind  to 
no  vital  interest  in  fiction,  although  she  had  come  upon 
themes  enough  during  her  sojourn  in  the  world.  She 
wondered  if  such  productive  faculties  as  she  may  have 
been  born  with  had  withered  under  the  blight  of  her 
married  life;  not  knowing  that  the  genius  for  fiction  survives 
the  death  of  every  illusion,  being,  as  it  is,  quite  outside  the 
range  of  personality  and  watered  by  the  lost  fountain  of 
youth.  She  had  not,  however,  dismissed  the  belief,  cun 
ningly  nursed  by  Bridgit  and  Ishbel,  that  she  had  talents 
of  some  sort,  and  that  the  expression  of  them  would  mani 
fest  itself  in  due  course. 

But  now?  What  was  she  to  do  meanwhile?  Where 
should  she  seek  refuge  against  a  possible  disaster  in  her 
nervous  system  which  might  wreck  her  life  ?  There  was 
nothing  here.  If  she  fled  to  London  and  obtained  employ 
ment  of  any  sort,  even  in  an  obscure  shop,  France  would 


HAROLD   FRANCE  243 

carry  out  his  threat  and  ruin  Ishbel,  one  way  or  another. 
If  he  dared  not  employ  his  original  method  again  —  and 
why  not?  He  was  cunning  enough  to  know  that  one 
sensational  episode  might  be  explained  away,  but  not  two 
of  the  same  kind.  There  is  nothing  people  weary  of  so 
quickly  as  explanations. 

If  she  could  only  take  up  a  difficult  language.  She  had 
studied  French  and  German  during  four  of  her  years  in 
the  world,  and  knew  the  power  of  a  foreign  tongue  to  domi 
nate  the  brain.  She  had  intended  to  take  up  Italian,  and 
it  was  the  resource  for  which  she  most  longed  at  the  moment. 
But  she  could  as  easily  furnish  the  library  downstairs. 

She  was  about  to  turn  from  the  window  and  go  for  a 
ten-mile  tramp  in  the  rain,  since  nothing  was  left  her  but 
physical  exercise,  when  she  saw  a  fly  crawling  up  the 
avenue.  She  was  not  particularly  interested,  as  the 
occupant  was  more  than  likely  to  have  a  dun  or  a  writ  in 
his  pocket,  but  she  lingered,  watching  idly.  The  least 
event  broke  the  monotony  of  her  existence. 

As  the  fly  approached  the  end  of  the  avenue,  the  door  was 
flung  open  and  a  man  jumped  out  impatiently,  paid  the 
driver,  and  walked  rapidly  toward  the  house.  It  was 
Nigel  Herbert. 

Julia's  first  impulse  was  to  run  downstairs  and  embrace 
him.  Her  spirits  went  up  with  a  wild  rush.  But  she  rang 
the  bell  and  asked  the  servant  if  her  husband  was  in  the 
house.  He  was  tearing  across  country  with  his  pack 
on  an  independent  hunt.  She  ordered  a  fire  built  in  the 
drawing-room,  rearranged  her  hair,  and  put  on  a  becoming 
house  frock  of  apple-green  cloth.  She  observed  with  some 
pleasure  that  her  skin  was  as  white  as  ever,  if  her  chin  and 
throat  were  not  as  round  as  when  Nigel  had  seen  her  last. 
Excitement  brought  the  old  brilliance  to  her  eyes,  and  she 
smiled  for  the  first  time  since  the  hunt  breakfast.  She 
ran  downstairs  and  into  the  drawing-room.  Nigel,  who 
was  standing  before  the  fire  in  the  chill  room,  met  herjuilf- 
way  and  gave  both  her  hands  a  close  clasp. 

"Oh,  this  is  so  delightful  —  so  delightful  —  how  did  you 


244  JULIA   FRANCE   AND    HER   TIMES 

think  of  it  —  when  did  you  come  back  -  Julia  delivered 
a  volley  of  questions,  not  only  because  she  was  excited 
herself,  but  because  she  saw  that  Nigel  had  come  charged 
with  so  much  that  he  could  say  nothing  at  the  moment. 

They  sat  down  and  continued  to  stare  at  each  other. 
Nigel  was  far  more  changed  than  Julia.  The  smooth  pink 
face  she  had  first  known  was  lined  and  rather  sallow,  his 
eyes  had  lost  their  careless  laughter,  his  lips  their  boyish 
pout. 

"Oh,  South  Africa!  South  Africa!"  said  Julia,  softly. 
"How  it  has  changed  all  of  you." 

"Rather!"  said  Nigel,  sadly.  "Those  that  are  left 
of  us.  Perhaps  you  don't  know  that  I  am  literally  the  last 
of  my  name  now,  except  my  poor  old  father  —  who  has 
forgiven  me  once  for  all.  I  had  four  brothers  and  six 
cousins  when  this  war  began.  Now  I  have  scarcely  a 
friend  of  my  sex.  At  all  events  I  know  the  worst.  There 
is  no  one  left  to  mourn  for  but  my  father,  and  he'll  go 
soon.  But  I  haven't  a  pang  left  in  me  —  not  of  that  sort. 
God  !  What  a  cursed  thing  war  is  !  A  cursed,  useless, 
souless  thing  !  But  I'll  treat  that  subject  elsewhere.  I've 
come  here  to  see  you,  and  I  don't  fancy  we'll  be  uninter 
rupted  any  too  long  — 

"Oh,  he  rarely  takes  luncheon  here  —  and  you  are  to 
take  yours  with  me.  Do  you  know  that  I  haven't  had  a 
soul  to  talk  to  since  last  November?" 

"I  know.  And  that  is  what  I  have  come  to  see  you 
about.  I  -  He  got  up  and  walked  to  the  window,  then 
back,  his  hands  in  his  pockets.  "  The  last  time  I  made  love 
to  you  —  the  only  time,  for  that  matter  —  you  put  me  off, 
turned  me  down  - 

"Alas  !  I  only  went  out  that  night  because  the  roman 
tic  situation  appealed  to  me.  What  a  baby  I  was  !  And 
since!  Oh  !  oh  !  oh!" 

She  sprang  to  her  feet,  and  running  over  to  the  fire, 
knelti  down,  pretending  to  arrange  the  logs.  Tragedy 
rose  on  the  stage  of  her  mind,  but  at  the  same  time  she  felt 
an  impulse  to  laugh.  The  hard  shell  in  which  she  had 


HAROLD    FRANCE  245 

fancied  her  spirit  incased,  sealed,  had  melted  the  moment 
the  man  she  liked  best  had  appeared  with  love  in  his  eyes. 
But  tragedy  swept  out  humor  and  took  possession.  She 
flung  her  head  down  into  her  lap  and  burst  into  tears. 
They  were  the  first  she  had  shed  and  they  beat  down  the 
last  of  her  defences. 

14 Oh,  Nigel!  Nigel!"  she  sobbed.  "If  you  knew! 
If  you  knew  !  I  never  have  dared  tell  one-tenth.  I  dare 
not  remember  - 

Nigel,  like  most  of  his  sex,  was  distracted  and  helpless 
at  sight  of  tears.  "Yes!  Yes!"  he  exclaimed,  bending 
over  and  trying  to  raise  her.  "I  know.  You  need  not 
tell  me.  Please  get  up.  I  have  so  much  to  say-  I 
can't  say  a  word  while  you  are  like  this." 

She  let  him  lift  her  and  put  her  back  in  her  chair.  He 
made  no  attempt  to  take  her  in  his  arms. 

He  took  the  chair  opposite  hers  and  smiled  wryly.  "I 
don't  fancy  I'm  as  impulsive  as  I  was  !  Ishbel  told  me 
when  I  returned  last  week.  If  I  had  heard  —  say,  during 
the  first  year  of  our  acquaintance  —  I  should  have  got  one 
of  these  new  motor  cars  and  flown  to  your  rescue  without 
a  plan.  But  much  water  has  flowed  under  our  bridges 
since  then  ! " 

"Don't  you  love  me  any  longer?"  Julia  sat  up  alertly 
and  dried  her  eyes. 

"I've  always  loved  you  and  I  fancy  I  always  shall. 
But  —  well,  we  are  only  young  once  —  young  in  the  sense 
of  love  being  the  one  thing  to  live  and  breathe  for.  And, 
then,  I  have  had  a  resource  !  There  have  been  many 
months  when  I  have  been  able  to  put  you  out  of  my 
head  altogether.  That  is  what  work,  productive  work, 
does  for  a  chap.  And  after  —  well,  soon  after  that  night 
at  Bosquith,  I  hated  you  for  a  time.  You  could  never 
be  the  same  delicious  wonderful  child  again.  That  would 
have  broken  my  heart  if  I  had  not  both  hated  you 
and  taken  the  first  train  into  the  kingdom  of  Micomicon. 
Even  when  I  found  you  so  charming,  when  I  saw  so 
much  of  you,  that  next  season,  I  still  congratulated 


246  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

myself  that  I  was  jolly  well  over  it.  But  —  well  —  you 
never  really  ceased  to  haunt  me--  you  had  a  way 
of  asserting  yourself  in  the  most  disconcerting  fashion. 
When  I  heard  of  the  duke's  marriage,  I  began  to  worry  - 
I  knew  that  life  would  not  go  as  smoothly  with  you  -  I 
had  heard  from  the  girls  that  you  managed  France  very 
cleverly,  saw  comparatively  little  of  him.  Out  there  in 
Africa,  I  never  was  alone  at  night  that  I  didn't  find 
myself  thinking  of  you.  But  I  never  guessed  -  When 
the  girls  told  me,  I  thought  I'd  go  off  my  head.  It's  too 
awful!  Too  awful!" 

"It's  not  so  bad  now.     I  have  five  pistols  in  the  house." 

"I  know.  But  what  a  life  !  It  is  so  hideous  that  it  is 
almost  farcical." 

"  People's  troubles  are  generally  rather  absurd  when 
you  come  to  think  of  them.  And  I  fancy  I'm  a  good  deal 
better  off  than  a  lot  of  women.  Many  have  husbands 
that  are  worse  than  lunatics,  and  as  the  divorce  laws  won't 
help  them,  they  suffer  in  silence,  without  a  ray  of  hope. 
At  least  I  may  hope  mine  will  betray  himself  in  public 
sooner  or  later.  I  can  manage  him  in  a  way,  and  of  death 
I  have  not  the  least  fear  - 

"Oh!  It  is  all  too  dreadful!  How  old  are  you? 
Twenty-five  ?  It's  awful !  Awful !  But  you  must  end 
it—" 

"If  I  could  conceal  two  alienists  in  the  house  long 
enough  — 

"But  you  can't.  Nor  would  their  certificate  give  you 
real  freedom.  I've  no  doubt  he'll  go  raving  mad  in  time 
-  but  when  one  reflects  upon  what  he  might  do  first ! 
No  !  I  have  not  come  here  without  a  plan,  and  here  it  is : 
You  must  go  to  the  United  States  at  once  and  get  a  divorce. 
There  is  a  place  called  Reno,  where  one  can  be  got  at  the 
end  of  about  ten  months.  Bridgit  will  go  with  you.  We 
held  a  conclave  over  it  —  we  two  and  Ishbel  —  not  the 
first !  Great  heaven  !  What  an  eternity  ago  that  seems— 
He  laughed  bitterly.  "Once  — was  it  only  seven  years 
ago  ?  —  we  three  talked  the  subject  over  and  came 


HAROLD   FRANCE  247 

to  much  the  same  conclusions,  but  our  plans  were  frus 
trated  by  France's  illness.  Well  —  we  were  all  young 
then,  but  it  was  a  good  plan  and  we  readopted  it.  You 
must  get  away  from  this  without  delay  —  there  has  been 
enough !  When  the  divorce  is  granted,  I'll  follow  and 
marry  you  if  you  will  have  me.  If  not,  we'll  provide  for 
you  in  whatever  part  of  America  you  choose  to  live  in. 
But  I  hope  you'll  marry  me.  I  don't  think  I  ever  really 
loved  you  before.  When  Ishbel  told  me  !  When  just  now 
you  crouched  by  that  fire!" 

"Oh,  how  good  you  all  are  !" 

"I've  not  taken  to  philanthropy.  I  want  you  more 
than  I  ever  did  when  we  were  both  careless  and  young  and 
arrogant.  I  never  thought  it  could  be.  But  either  Time 
or  what  you  have  endured  with  that  man  has  annihilated 
everything.  Can  you  go  to-morrow?" 

"Oh!  I  must  think.  I  don't  know.  It  is  all  very 
alluring.  But  I  am  not  sure." 

"You  mean  that  you  don't  love  me?" 

"Oh.  if  I  could!     If  I  could!" 

Julia  sprang  to  her  feet  and  threw  out  her  arms.  "Away 
from  all  this  !  —  from  the  memory  of  it !  The  horror  ! 
And  there  are  other  memories  behind  those  three  months  ! 
I  don't  know  !  I  have  felt  so  sure  I  never  could  forget. 
And  if  I  cannot  forget,  I  cannot  love  you  or  any  man.  I 
have  never  felt  so  sure  of  anything  as  of  that." 

"You  are  but  twenty-five,  remember.  The  mind  is  not 
crystallized  at  that  age.  Even  memory  is  fluid.  I  believe 
that  anything  can  be  forgotten,  given  change  of  scene  - 
at  your  age,  at  least.  A  year  in  the  United  States,  and  all 
this  will  be  a  dream.  At  the  end  of  ten  months  in  a  life 
which  is  like  a  French  poster  out  of  drawing,  you  will  be  a 
different  being  —  no,  you  will  have  lived  with  your  old 
sense  of  humor,  and  be  the  same  enchanting  creature  - 
Oh,  we  young  people  take  life  so  tragically,  my  dear,  and 
we  succumb  so  generously  to  time  and  distance  !  Blessed 
antidotes  to  life  !  Time  and  change  !  And  you  are  full 
of  buoyancy,  to  say  nothing  of  your  brains.  Once  I 


248  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

regretted  that  you  had  any.  Where  would  you  be  with 
out  them  ?  A  woman  must  find  them  a  pretty  good  sub 
stitute  when  man  fails  her.  Oh,  I  have  learned  !  The 
land  of  shadows  in  which  we  writers  of  fiction  live  is  peopled 
with  the  luminous  egos  of  women  as  well  as  with  their  con 
ventional  shells ;  we  have  only  to  take  our  choice  !  And 
you  —  I  shall  find  Julia  Edis  again,  with  all  her  enchanting 
possibilities  at  least  half  developed.  Oh,  you  are  wonder 
ful  !  When  one  thinks  of  what  you  might  have  become —of 
the  brainless  women  that  brood  and  brood.  Will  you  go  ?  " 

"I  must  think  !  I  must  think  !"  The  powerful  sugges 
tion  in  his  words  seemed  to  have  delivered  Julia  Edis  from 
the  tomb  to  which  she  had  crept  in  terror,  but  hidden  and 
shivered  intact.  She  ran  up  and  down  the  room,  she  even 
thrust  her  hands  into  her  hair  as  if  to  lift  its  weight  from 
her  struggling  brain,  that  it  might  think  faster.  Freedom  ! 
The  new  world!  The  annihilation  of  memory!  A  quick 
divorce  which  would  deliver  her  forever  from  the  terrifying 
creature  she  had  married,  over  to  the  protection  of  the 
new  world's  laws.  It  was  an  enchanting  prospect.  She 
drew  in  her  breath  as  if  inhaling  the  ozone,  drinking  the 
elixir  of  that  land  of  youth  and  freedom.  And  happiness  ! 
Happiness!  Why  shouldn't  she  love  Nigel - 

But  she  stopped  short  and  dropped  her  hands.  Her 
whole  body  looked  paralyzed.  The  youth  seemed  to  run 
out  of  her  face. 

"It  is  impossible,"  she  whispered.  "I  cannot  take  with 
me  his  power  to  avenge  himself,  and  he  will  do  that  by 
ruining  Ishbel  - 

"We  have  talked  all  that  over.  Ishbel  will  manage  to 
protect  herself.  What  are  bobbies  for - 

"It  won't  do.  A  policeman  at  the  door  !  People  would 
soon  hear  of  it  —  and  stay  away.  Besides  he  is  a  fiend 
for  resource - 

"Yes  — but  Mr.  Jones  can't  last  much  longer.  And 
then  —  well,  I  fancy  Ishbel  will  marry  Dark  —  he's  on 
his  feet  again,  and  will  be  home  before  long." 

"Ishbel  will  never  give  up  her  work.     Remember  she 


HAROLD   FRANCE  240 

took  it  up  because  it  seemed  to  her  the  most  vital  thing 
she  could  find  in  life,  not  because  she  was  driven  to  earn 
her  bread.  And  it  has  become  a  sort  of  religion  with  her." 

"Ishbel  never  had  been  in  love  then  !  But  if  she  kept 
the  business  on,  she  would  have  a  husband  to  protect  her. 
You  would  be  out  of  it- 

"But  not  yet!" 

"We  are  none  of  us  willing  you  should  wait,  Ishbel  least 
of  all." 

"I  know,  but  I  can't  sacrifice  her.  I  should  be  a  beast. 
Harold  is  capable  of  writing  the  most  frightful  anonymous 
letters  to  hundreds  of  people  - 

"  Why  the  devil  isn't  he  rotting  in  South  Africa  ?  When 
I  think  of  the  hundreds  of  fine  fellows  -  Oh,  well,  I've 
given  over  trying  to  understand  space  and  fate.  But  I 
wish  I  could  have  run  across  him  down  there.  I'd  have 
shot  him  like  a  dog  if  I'd  got  the  chance,  and  never  felt  a 
pang." 

"So  should  I  !  That  is  the  most  dreadful  result  of  it 
all  —  the  hardness,  the  callousness,  the  cynicism  - 

"Oh,  it  will  all  fall  from  you.  We  don't  change  much 
under  the  armor  Life  forces  us  into.  Dismiss  Ishbel  from 
your  mind.  Take  care  of  yourself.  What  is  Ishbel's 
business  when  weighed  against  a  lifetime  of  horror  and 
demoralization  ?  Nobody  knows  this  better  than  Ishbel. 
I  fancy  if  you  don't  go,  she'll  chuck  the  business.  It's  a 
deuced  unpleasant  position  for  her.  And  she  has  made 
enough  to  live  on  comfortably  until  she  can  marry  Dark  - 

"I  don't  believe  it.     It  might  be  years  - 

The  butler  entered  and  announced  luncheon.  Julia 
smoothed  her  hair,  feeling  much  herself  again. 

"I  can  see  the  force  of  all  your  arguments.  And  I  am 
tempted.  I  don't  deny  it.  But  you  must  give  me  time  to 
think  it  over.  Perhaps  I  exaggerate  about  Ishbel.  But 
there  is  another  point:  I  was  not  consulted  in  regard  to 
my  first  marriage.  I  should  be  something  more  than  a 
fool  if  I  rushed  blindly  into  another,  no  matter  what  the 
temptations.  Still  -  Come,  you  must  be  starved." 


X 

LIFE  moves  in  circles.  Some  are  larger  than  the  span 
between  infancy  and  senility,  but  that  is  about  the  only 
difference  we  know  of.  It  is  a  far  cry  from  the  primigenous 
mere  female,  or  even  the  Sabines,  to  the  women  that  com 
pose  the  advance  guard  of  their  sex  to-day,  but  when  man 
wants  to  win  and  wear  this  highest  product  of  civilization, 
he  would  better  kidnap  her,  and  pay  her  the  compliment  of 
arguing  with  her  brain  later.  Her  impulses  are  still  primi 
tive,  but  they  must  be  taken  by  assault.  The  more  he 
reasons,  the  more  vigorously  will  she  throw  up  mental 
defences,  and,  what  is  worse,  in  the  utmost  good  faith  with 
herself. 

This,  of  course,  in  regard  to  women  that  already  know 
something  of  life,  or  that  have  an  instinctive  love  of  liberty 
and  independence.  The  maternal  girl,  and  she  is  legion, 
may  safely  be  left  in  charge  of  the  race,  and  wooed  in  the 
orthodox  fashion  favored  of  society.  But  the  women  that 
exert  a  powerful  attraction  for  men,  either  exceptionally 
advanced  themselves,  or  exceptionally  weak  in  character 
while  possessing  every  charm  of  mind,  women  that  are 
approaching  closer  and  closer  to  that  exact  balance  of 
masculine  and  feminine  attributes  which,  when  attained, 
will  give  them  the  one  perfect  happiness,  setting  them 
free,  as  it  must,  from  the  present  curse  of  the  race,  the 
longing  for  completion,  are  already  too  close  to  independence 
to  be  won  by  simple  methods.  It  is  little,  after  all,  that 
man  can  give  them.  They  are  conscious  of  too  many 
resources  both  within  themselves  and  in  life ;  after  a  man's 
novelty  has  worn  off,  they  are  more  likely  than  not  —  cer 
tainly  apt !  —  to  find  him  their  inferior  in  brain,  and  almost 
inevitably  in  character,  full  of  the  little  weaknesses  and  de 
pendencies  of  childhood.  If  they  make  these  discoveries 

250 


HAROLD   FRANCE  251 

after  marriage,  the  man  has  some  small  chance  of  keeping 
his  spouse,  particularly  if  he  has  won  a  measure  of  respect 
by  audacity  and  brute  force  plus  sympathy,  but  too  much 
consideration  for  a  woman  who  is  almost  half  male  while 
he  is  still  but  one-fourth  female  will  lose  him  the  game. 

Nigel,  of  all  the  men  that  Julia  had  met,  was  the  best 
equipped  to  appeal  to  sentimental,  romantic,  and  clever  young 
women,  who  were  at  the  same  time  cultivating  their  wings 
for  the  high'er  flights.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  had,  appealed 
to  a  good  many  women  of  various  sorts  in  his  earlier 
twenties  when  he  was  all  freshness,  frankness,  adoration, 
and  honest  eager  youth.  Later,  when  he  wore  the  literary 
halo  with  ease  and  modesty,  his  charm  was  pot  diminished  ; 
and  it  was  easy  to  predict  that  when  the  war  was  really 
over  and  London,  her  mourning  laid  aside,  roused  herself 
to  do  honor  to  her  heroes,  Nigel  would  come  in  for  thrice 
his  share  of  lionizing.  As  a  matter  bf  fact,  he  did,  and  he 
philosophically  accepted  it  as  a  compensation  for  the  lack 
of  better  things. 

When  he  stepped  from  the  fly  on  that  gloomy  Wednes 
day  morning  and  walked  across  the  dripping  garden,  the 
dark  and  romantic  wall  of  woods  behind  him.  he  looked  as 
gallant  a  knight  as  ever  came  to  the  rescue  of  a  damsel  in 
distress;  and  Julia,  as  dreary  as  Mariana  in  the  moated 
grange,  was  in  the  proper  frame  of  mind  to  be  taken  by 
assault.  She  was  still  very  young,  she  was  very  lonely, 
she  was  on  the  verge  of  despair ;  her  imagination,  always 
active,  had  been  bred  in  youth  by  dreams,  and  developed 
later  by  real  castles  and  titles,  purple  moors.  London 
society,  and  great  expectations.  She  hailed  from  the 
West  Indies,  one  of  the  most  romantic  spots  to  look 
at  on  earth,  and  all  the  circumstances  of  her  life 
there  had  been  exceptional.  She  was  still  more  or  less 
romantically  environed,  when  you  consider  the  old  world 
dinginess,  inconvenience,  and  isolation  of  White  Lodge, 
a  presumptive  lunatic  always  threatening  developments, 
and  that  she  was  as  much  cut  off  from  her  friends  as  if 
she  literally  were  in  an  underground  dungeon  with  walls 


252  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

instead  of  trees  dropping  the  constant  tear.  Take  all  this 
into  consideration,  and  add  the  momentous  fact  that  she 
had  never  loved,  and  had  arrived  at  the  susceptible  age  of 
twenty-five,  that  she  was  more  attracted  to  Nigel  than  she 
ever  had  been  to  any  man,  that  underneath  her  despair 
and  her  manufactured  stolidity  she  was  full  of  eager  curios 
ity  and  the  desire  to  live,  and  it  will  readily  be  seen  that  if 
Nigel  did  not  win  her,  it  was  strictly  his  own  fault. 

He  shpuld  have  retained  the  fly.  He  should  have 
descended  upon  her  like  a  whirlwind  (having  ascertained 
that  France  was  out  of  the  way,  —  which,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  he  did  at  Stanmore),  refused  to  listen  to  protests, 
caused  in  her  bewildered  mind  what  psychologists  call  an 
inhibition,  swept  her  out  into  the  fly,  up  to  London,  on  to 
an  Atlantic  liner  (passage  already  engaged),  turned  her 
over  to  Mrs.  Herbert  (thus  eliminating  every  possible 
excuse  for  reproach  during  the  subsequent  and  less  glam 
orous  period  of  matrimony),  joined  her  at  the  earliest 
possible  moment  in  Reno  (where  Bridgit  and  Reno  would 
have  seen  that  she  was  sufficiently  amused),  and  when  she 
walked  out  of  the  court-house  with  her  decree,  met  her  with 
a  license.  That  is  the  only  way  to  manage  them,  my 
masters.  Try  it,  or  take  a  back  seat,  now  and  forever. 

But  Nigel,  alas  !  in  spite  of  his  manly  qualities,  was  the 
most  considerate  and  tender  of  men.  The  very  idea  of 
kidnapping  a  woman  would  have  horrified  him.  He  had 
all  those  instincts  of  the  hunter  upon  which  men  pride 
themselves,  but  he  wanted  to  hunt  according  to  the  rules 
of  the  game.  It  would  have  given  him  the  most  exquisite 
pleasure  to  woo  Julia  day  by  day,  in  Reno  or  out  of  it, 
and  it  never  occurred  to  him  that  this  program  might 
induce  a  yawn  in  Julia. 

She  sat  up  all  that  night  thinking.  It  was  a  rosy  pano 
rama  he  had  unrolled  before  her,  this  charming  young  man 
that  she  might  have  loved  if  he  had  not  given  her  so  many 
opportunities  to  like  him.  He  was  a  rich  man  and  would 
one  day  be  richer.  They  would  live  in  New  York  and 
other  wonderful  cities  of  America,  play  with  the  kaleide- 


HAROLD   FRANCE  253 

scopic  society  American  novelists  wrote  about,  hunt  in 
the  Rockies,  steep  themselves  in  the  romance  of  California, 
vary  this  exciting  program  with  frequent  trips  to  Europe 
and  the  Orient.  England  would  be  closed  to  them,  lest 
France  cause  her  arrest  for  bigamy,  as  one  of  many 
offensive  actions.  On  the  other  hand,  he  might  release  her 
by  divorce.  Then  she  could  marry  according  to  the  laws 
of  her  country,  and  all  the  world  would  be  her  oyster. 

Above  all,  and  Nigel  had  emphasized  this  point  during 
their  afternoon  conversation,  she  would  have  a  strong  and 
devoted  husband  to  protect  her,  to  shield  her  from  all  that 
was  harsh  and  unlovely  in  life,  to  study  her  every  wish,  and 
make  her  a  queen  among  women. 

Curiously  enough  it  was  this  last  alluring  set  of  promises 
that  lost  him  the  game.  Nothing  he  had  said  to  Julia 
had  appealed  to  her  so  forcibly  at  the  moment.  He  had 
never  looked  so  handsome  and  so  manly,  so  distinguished, 
so  perfect  a  specimen  of  his  type.  His  face  had  flushed 
until  the  lines  and  the  sallowness  had  disappeared,  his 
eyes  forgot  the  things  they  had  looked  upon  this  last  year, 
forgot  that  their  inward  gaze  saw  his  heart  a  tomb  crowded 
with  beloved  dead ;  they  flashed  with  hope  and  passion, 
with  undying  love  for  the  one  woman  that  must  ever 
make  to  him  the  complete  appeal.  She  had  almost  put 
her  hands  in  his  then  and  there.  But  he  had  left  soon 
after,  and  without  even  kissing  her.  Dear  knightly  soul! 
Julia  never  forgot  his  tender  consideration,  but  on  the 
other  hand  she  never  regretted  it. 

For  when  she  had  finished  visualizing  the  United  States 
of  America  and  all  their  centres  of  delight,  to  say  nothing 
of  certain  states  of  Europe  and  Asia,  which  she  longed 
unceasingly  to  visit ;  when  she  had  dwelt  upon  the  deep 
relief  of  turning  her  back  forever  upon  Harold  France 
(France  prowling  about  the  halls  and  breathing  heavily 
against  her  door  materially  assisted  Nigel  at  this  point); 
when  these  phases  were  disposed  of,  and  her  imagination, 
weary,  left  the  brain  free  to  face  the  particular  ego  of  Julia 
France,  in  some  ways  so  typical  of  woman,  in  others 


254  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

individual  and  peculiar,  a  very  different  set  of  ideas  marched 
to  the  front  and  argued  pro  and  con. 

Did  she  want  another  husband,  no  matter  how  good, 
how  devoted,  how  generous,  how  strong?  It  was  now 
nearly  a  year  and  a  half  since  she  had  lived  with  France, 
but  if  the  memories  of  her  married  life  were  no  longer  active, 
no  longer  embittered  her  existence,  she  had  by  no  means 
buried  them,  and  they  affected  her  attitude  toward  all 
men.  Had  Nigel  swept  her  out  of  England  and  into  that 
strange  bizarre  world  of  America,  no  doubt  the  experiences 
in  the  new  land,  assisted  by  the  fiction  that  she  was  about 
to  begin  life  over,  really  would  have  annihilated  memory ; 
but  thinking  it  all  over  in  the  cold  small  hours  of  an  Eng 
lish  winter  morning,  wrapped  in  a  blanket  and  shovelling 
coals  into  a  small  unwilling  English  grate,  she  failed  to 
visualize  love  as  the  sweetest  thing  in  the  world. 

Even  so,  this  inability  to  respond  to  the  genuine  love 
that  was  offered  her  might  not  have  prevented  her  ulti 
mate  acceptance.  The  man's  foe  was  far  more  deadly. 

Looking  into  herself,  Julia  slowly  understood  that  what 
she,  in  her  youth  and  inexperience,  had  mistaken  for 
hardness  and  callousness,  was  in  reality  strength.  Nature 
had  endowed  her  with  strength  of  character  and  indepen 
dence  of  mind.  For  eighteen  years  her  mother  had  domi 
nated  her,  almost  without  her  knowledge ;  then  she  had 
been  flung  into  the  world  and  treated  to  a  succession  of 
experiences  which  had  left  her  gasping  and  dizzy,  without 
either  the  maturity  or  the  opportunities  to  develop  herself 
with  deliberation.  But  the  subsequent  years  had  done 
their  work ;  ultimately  certain  influences,  sufferings, 
horrors,  terrors,  had  pushed  her  on  to  a  point  where  she 
must  sink  or  swim.  In  swimming  she  had  proved  that  she 
belonged  to  the  army  of  the  strong,  not  to  the  vast  and 
insignificant  majority  of  her  sex  that  found  their  only 
strength  in  man. 

She  was  strong.  She  fully  realized  it  for  the  first  time. 
All  the  spurious  cynicism  and  philosophy  of  youth  fell 
away  from  her ;  she  saw  herself  for  what  she  was,  a  woman, 


HAROLD  FRANCE  255 

equipped  with  a  nature  of  flexible  steel,  able  to  endure  any 
test  without  snapping,  fashioned  not  so  much  for  endurance 
as  for  conquest.  Conquest  of  what  ?  She  speculated, 
that  something  which  so  long  had  striven  for  expression 
moving  dumbly.  Never  mind,  it  was  there;  she  should 
find  the  connection  in  time. 

Her  mind  rapidly  reviewed  the  whole  field  of  woman. 
She  had  no  statistics,  but  she  knew  that  several  millions  of 
her  sex  were  forcing  the  world  to  recognize  them  as  bread 
winners,  independently  of  any  assistance  from  man.  It 
was  magnificent,  the  opportunities  of  to-day,  when  com 
pared  with  the  meagre  resources  of  the  past,  and  the 
repeated  struggle  of  woman  for  expression  and  indepen 
dence  almost  from  the  dawn  of  history.  They  had  found 
themselves  at  last,  the  twentieth  century  was  theirs,  and 
they  were  driving  rapidly  toward  the  goal  of  complete 
equality  with  man.  But  how  many  of  these  women  were 
strong  enough  to  go  through  life  without  love  ?  None,  she 
fancied,  until  they  had  undergone  a  process  of  disillusion 
similar  to  her  own.  Then  she  rejoiced  in  what  for  so  long 
had  seemed  to  her  the  harshest  of  destinies ;  for  sitting  there 
in  the  cold  dawn,  the  one  perfect  destiny  seemed  to  her  to 
be  an  utter  independence  of  soul  and  mind  and  body,  the 
power  to  cultivate  every  faculty  toward  a  state  of  develop 
ment  in  which  one  human  being,  having  in  perfect  balance 
the  highest  potencies  of  both  sexes,  should  stand  alone, 
indifferent  to  all  extrinsic  aid.  And  this  perfect  balance 
could  be  attained  only  by  woman,  unhampered  as  she  was 
by  the  animality  of  man. 

Perfection.  The  word  started  her  off  on  another  train 
of  thought.  How  was  this  perfection  of  strength,  char 
acter,  mind,  and  poise  to  be  attained  ?  To  stand  alone 
without  aid  from  man  or  woman  was  neither  a  means  nor 
an  end.  She  had  none  of  the  common  need  of  religion.  It 
could  play  little  or  no  part  in  her  development.  Nor  could 
happiness  be  found  merely  in  perfecting  self  toward  a  stand 
ard  which  must  inevitably  deteriorate  into  self-righteous 
ness.  To  stand  alone  is  the  most  magnificent  ideal  of  the 


256  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

human  character,  but  that  strength  must  be  used  toward 
some  end  beyond  self.  She  groped  along  and  began  to 
see  clearly.  She  must  work  for  the  race.  She  must 
regard  herself  as  a  chosen  instrument  of  usefulness,  as, 
indeed,  all  exceptionally  gifted  people  were.  And  for 
this  she  was  peculiarly  equipped,  not  only  by  nature,  but 
by  life.  Had  she  not  married  at  all,  or  at  the  most,  casually, 
her  woman's  nature  would  have  protested  against  any  such 
program,  demanded  its  rights  first;  but  these  sources  of 
disturbances  were  choked  with  hideous  weeds,  and  Julia 
was  unable  to  conceive  that  the  weeds  might  rot  in  time 
and  the  waters  rise  refreshed.  She  felt  that  she  was  fortu 
nately  accoutred,  and  she  longed  for  her  opportunities. 

What  they  might  be  she  had  no  inkling  as  yet,  nor  was  she 
conscious  of  love  for  her  kind,  and  a  desire  to  be  useful  to 
it  on  general  principles.  Her  ambition,  if  ambition  it 
could  be  called,  was  centred  in  her  brain.  If  she  had  been 
chosen  for  a  work,  she  would  perform  it.  What  else,  in 
fact,  was  there  for  her  to  do  ?  It  had  not  needed  Bridgit  and 
Ishbel  to  teach  her  contempt  for  the  morbid  type  of  female 
that  exaggerates  sex  until  it  becomes  a  disease,  the  women 
that  play  with  their  nerves  until  they  have  become  mere 
neurotic  systems  without  either  sex  or  brains,  and  that 
exhibit  egos  either  in  private  or  public  whose  swollen  de 
formities  cause  a  momentary  thrill  and  a  prolonged  dis 
gust.  Abnormal  without  individuality.  It  was  an  ideal 
carefully  avoided  by  all  the  sane  strong  women  Julia  had 
met. 

For  the  present,  she  could  only  wait  and  endure.  She 
could  not  even  go  out  and  study  the  great  problems  of  life, 
those  problems  she  had  chosen  to  ignore.  But  there  is 
hardly  any  greater  test  of  strength  than  passive  endurance ; 
and  the  time  of  her  liberation  could  not  be  far  off.  The 
day  Ishbel  married  Lord  Dark  she  should  leave  France  and 
look  for  work  in  London. 

Nigel's  fate  was  settled  before  the  rising  of  the  sun. 
Far  away  on  what  to  Europeans  seem  the  confines  of  civi 
lization,  in  other  words,  San  Francisco,  a  youth  was  growing 


HAROLD   FRANCE  257 

to  masterful  manhood,  who,  in  due  course,  would  avenge 
him,  and,  incidentally,  much  else.  But  of  that  poor  Nigel 
could  know  nothing,  nor  would  he  have  felt  consoled  had 
he  foreseen ;  when  he  received  Julia's  letter,  whose  finality 
was  as  convincing  as  a  black  midnight  without  stars,  he 
wished  that  he  had  left  his  wretched  heart  and  bones  in 
South  Africa,  retired  to  the  country  with  his  broken  father, 
and  began  another  book.  There  was  still  the  Nobel  Peace 
Prize  to  work  for,  and  he  felt  peculiarly  fitted  to  win  it. 
It  may  be  stated  here  that  he  did,  and  all  England  (of  his 
class,  and  one  or  two  strata  just  below)  was  astonished 
that  an  Englishman  should  have  competed  for  a  prize  that 
involved  a  damnifying  of  war.  It  deeply  disapproved. 


XI 

THE  hunting  season  closed.  France  still  rode  for  several 
hours  every  day,  but  it  was  patent  that  his  restlessness 
was  increasing.  When  he  was  not  riding,  he  was  walking, 
and  he  walked  more  than  half  the  night  about  the  house 
and  grounds.  Oddly  enough,  however,  the  serenity  of 
his  mien  was  unruffled,  and  Julia  came  upon  him  several 
times  standing  before  a  long  mirror  in  one  of  the  halls,  his 
head  so  high  that  the  muscles  of  his  neck  creaked,  his  eyes 
flashing  with  a  pride  and  triumph  no  harassed  king  ever 
felt  on  his  coronation  morn.  As  a  rule,  he  left  the  table  the 
moment  the  meal  was  over,  preferring  to  take  his  coffee 
alone  out  of  doors  or  in  the  library,  but  one  day  Julia, 
who  was  beginning  to  take  a  certain  scientific  interest  in 
his  developments,  arrested  his  attention  as  he  was  about 
to  rise. 

"  Didn't  you  tell  me  once  that  Kingsborough  and  the 
little  chap  were  delicate?  I  heard  the  other  day  that 
both  are  remarkably  fit.  The  little  boy  always  has  been, 
and  the  duke  gets  stronger  every  day." 

She  looked  at  him  ingenuously  as  she  spoke,  quite  pre 
pared  for  an  outburst  of  rage,  but  he  only  bestowed  upon 
her  a  smile  of  withering  contempt. 

''They  are  merely  indulging  in  what  the  Americans  call 
'bluff.'  I  happen  to  know  that  they  are  both  full  of  disease 
and  cannot  last  the  year  out.  I  shall  be  Duke  of  Kings- 
borough  before  Christmas." 

"How  nice.  That  is  the  reason,  I  suppose,  you  don't 
mind  all  these  duns.  We  may  be  sold  out  any  day,  you 
know.  Summonses  are  becoming  as  thick  as  rain,  and  I 
am  told  that  not  a  man  in  the  stables  or  kennels  has  been 
paid- 

"They  all  understand  perfectly.  The  summonses  and 
grumblings  are  a  mere  matter  of  form.  I  have  promised 


HAROLD   FRANCE  259 

an  enormous  rate  of  interest  and  higher  wages  when  I  have 
moved  into  Kingsborough  House  and  Bosquith.  The 
other  estates  I  have  already  agreed  to  let  to  American 
millionnaires.  They  are  impatiently  awaiting  Kings- 
borough's  death." 

"Ah?    Where  have  you  met  the  millionnaires ? " 

"They  have  been  hunting  with  the  Hertfordshire  all 
winter,  and  we  have  discussed  matters  at  my  solicitor's." 

Julia  knew  that  he  had  not  been  to  London  for  several 
months,  save  for  the  queen's  funeral,  but  forbore  to  press 
the  subject.  She  remarked  amiably :  — 

"What  a  fine  income  you  will  have!" 

His  eyes  flashed.    "Ah,  yes!    Millions." 

"Surely  not  quite  that." 

"Millions.  Kingsbo  rough's  income  alone  is  two 
millions." 

"I  thought  it  was  forty  thousand  pounds." 

"  Forty  thousand  for  a  duke  of  Kingsborough !  No 
emperor  has  a  vaster  revenue." 

"How  jolly.  My  robes  of  state  shall  be  woven  of  pure 
gold.  Meanwhile,  why  don't  you  go  to  Paris  for  a  while  ? 
I  notice  that  you  are  restless,  since  you  have  nothing  to 
ride  after,  and  nothing  to  kill.  You  keep  me  awake  at 
night  banging  about  the  house." 

"Do  I?"  France's  eyes  flashed  with  something  besides 
triumph,  but  it  passed  almost  at  once.  He  was  losing 
interest  in  her.  As  he  rose,  bent  his  head  graciously  and 
sauntered  out  into  the  garden,  he  forgot  her  absolutely  in 
a  new  vision  that  had  haunted  him  since  the  queen's 
funeral.  There  for  the  first  time  he  had  seen  sovereigns 
en  masse.  The  sight  had  thrilled  him ;  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  signalize  his  succession  by  the  greatest  ban 
quet  London  had  ever  known ;  all  the  reigning  princes  of 
Europe  should  attend  it.  The  letters  of  invitation  were 
already  written.  He  had  written  them  many  times,  find 
ing  one  of  the  keenest  pleasures  he  had  ever  known  in  the 
process,  congratulating  himself  that  for  the  first  time  in 
his  life  he  was  about  to  have  associates  worthy  of  his 


200  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

name  and  ego.  But  although  he  had  never  heard  the  word 
paranoia,  and  while  at  Bosquith  had  finally  dismissed  from 
his  mind  the  haunting  thought  of  insanity  (it  was  outside  of 
reason  that  he,  Harold  France,  could  even  sprain  the  wonder 
ful  organ  he  had  inherited  with  other  unique  characteristics 
from  the  most  illustrious  house  in  Europe),  nevertheless, 
instinct  warned  him  to  lock  up  his  letters  of  invitation, 
and  keep  his  grandiose  dreams  to  himself.  Only  to  Julia, 
and  only  when  she  spurred  him  to  speech,  did  he  admit  a 
very  little  of  what  filled  his  thoughts  day  and  night. 

But  he  was  well  aware  that  his  nerves  were  on  edge,  and 
he  was  beginning  to  be  troubled  with  pains  in  his  head. 
He  slept  little,  and  when  he  thought  of  it  took  a  malicious 
pleasure  in  disturbing  his  prisoner,  whom  he  could  imagine 
sitting  on  the  edge  of  her  bed  pistol  in  hand. 

But  it  was  not  the  pistol  that  kept  him  from  breaking 
down  the  door  and  laughing  in  her  face.  He  had  antici 
pated  amusing  himself  with  her  female  terrors  as  soon  as 
the  hunting  season  closed,  but  he  found  himself  grown 
quite  indifferent  not  only  to  her  charm,  but  to  the  exquisite 
pleasure  it  had  once  given  him  to  torture  her.  His  dreams 
and  visions,  his  increasing  delusions,  filled  his  life.  Woman 
was  too  contemptible  to  consider;  were  it  not  that  it 
gratified  his  growing  passion  for  autocracy  to  have  a 
prisoner  of  state,  he  might  have  amused  himself  by  turning 
her  out  of  the  house  in  the  middle  of  the  night  and  dogging 
her  footsteps  to  Stanmore  or  Bushey. 

He  still  compelled  her  attendance  at  table,  but  other 
wise  took  no  notice  of  her  whatever.  So  absorbed  was  he 
that  he  failed  to  observe  that  his  wife  was  now  well  sup 
plied  with  books  and  no  longer  looked  desperate  or  even 
discontented.  Her  three  devoted  friends  had  made  an 
arrangement  with  her  bookseller  to  send  her  all  that  she 
ordered  from  his  catalogue,  and  Bridgit  had  turned  over 
her  membership  with  the  London  Library.  One  of  the 
first  books  she  sent  for  was  a  recent  work  on  insanity. 
She  was  not  long  discovering  that  France  was  a  paranoiac, 
and  she  wrote  to  her  aunt,  asking  her  to  invite  him  to 


HAROLD    FRANCE  261 

dinner,  and  two  alienists  to  meet  him.  But  Mrs.  Win- 
stone  was  shocked  at  the  suggestion,  not  only  because  she 
hated  increasingly  the  "grimy,"  in  other  words  serious, 
side  of  life,  but  because  it  would  be  a  thankless  task  to 
assist  in  proving  that  a  member  of  one  of  the  great  families 
of  Britain  was  a  lunatic.  She  chose,  therefore,  to  believe 
Julia  quite  mistaken,  that  France  was  merely  a  trifle  more 
impossible  than  ever,  and  assumed  the  high  moral  ground 
that  it  would  be  unfair  to  take  advantage  of  a  trusting 
guest.  Julia  concluded  that  to  write  to  the  duke  would 
be  equally  ineffective,  besides  making  an  enemy  of  him  for 
life,  and  she  knew  that  France  would  not  be  induced  to  dine 
with  either  Bridgit  or  Ishbel.  He  had  always  hated  both  of 
them.  There  was  nothing  to  do,  therefore,  but  wait  for  him 
to  develop  acute  mania,  and  to  keep  a  pistol  in  her  pocket; 
taking  her  walks  abroad  while  he  was  forced  to  sleep,  and 
locking  herself  in  her  room  when  she  was  not  at  table. 

It  was  during  this  strain  on  her  nerves  that  she  began  to 
long  for  the  repose  of  the  East.'  Orientalism  was  in  her 
brain  cells.  What  imagination  her  mother  possessed  had 
been  projected  toward  the  East  for  long  before  and  after 
her  birth.  The  science  of  astrology  is  the  birthright  of 
the  East,  the  very  word  sways  and  parts  the  shadowy  cur 
tains  that  hang  before  civilizations  old  before  the  Occident 
was  born,  evokes  the  gorgeous  heavy  sinister  pictures  of 
ancient  cities,  of  vast  arid  plains  where  only  the  stars  were 
alive.  This  mysterious  poetical  science  had  been  the  ro 
mance  of  Julia's  youth,  and  the  East  was  the  one  quarter 
of  the  globe,  save  Great  Britain,  that  she  had  ever  heard 
discussed.  In  London  she  had  escaped  theosophy  and  other 
made-up  fads  of  the  same  nature,  but  although  the  call  of 
the  East  had  often  and  for  long  been  overlaid  in  her  con 
sciousness,  it  never  failed  to  make  itself  heard  if  she  stood 
before  a  picture  portraying  India,  Arabia,  Persia,  or  read 
of  personal  adventures  in  the  East  by  writers  with  the  rare 
gift  of  atmosphere.  In  the  loneliness  and  terrors  and  con 
stant  tension  of  her  present  life  she  forgot  the  call  of  the 
too  modern,  too  similar  life,  across  the  Channel,  hearkened 


262  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

increasingly  to  that  of  the  East.  It  promised  a  vast  repose, 
an  endless  feast  of  beauty,  unfathomable  mysteries,  a  life 
as  different  from  that  of  the  West  as  it  was  in  the  days  of 
Mohammed,  Zoroaster,  or  Christ. 

Julia's  first  passion  was  slowly  growing  in  the  unsatisfied 
depths  of  her  mind,  but  that  is  the  last  name  she  would 
have  given  it.  She  was  yet  to  realize  that  imaginative 
people  with  productive  activities,  however  latent,  have 
passions  of  the  brain  or  ego  as  intense  and  profound  as  ever 
one  sex  compelled  in  the  other  in  the  interests  of  the  race. 
Julia,  abominating  all  that  the  word  love  implied  (a  state 
of  mind  inevitable  unless  she  had  been  coarse  and  callous), 
but  young,  fervent,  and  conceptive,  was  both  situated  and 
tuned  to  be  caught  in  the  eddies  of  an  impersonal  passion. 
It  might  have  been  art,  but  she  was  not  an  artist ;  study  and 
politics  had  failed  her,  and  although  psychology  interested 
her,  she  was  too  restless  for  science  in  any  form;  therefore, 
she  had  no  sooner  chanced  upon  one  or  two  picturesque 
old  books  of  Eastern  travel  than  she  succumbed  to  the 
passion  for  place.  She  sent  for  no  more  books  save  those 
that  carried  her  to  the  Orient.  Her  imagination  blazed. 
She  was  transported  into  a  new  and  enchanting  world. 
Her  good  resolutions  to  live  for  the  race  were  forgotten. 
The  moment  she  was  free  she  would  fly  to  the  East  and  live. 
She  was  almost  happy.  Then  she  descended  into  England 
and  the  purely  personal  life  with  a  crash.  Ishbel  sent  her 
a  marked  copy  of  a  newspaper  containing  the  announce 
ment  of  Mr.  Jones's  death,  a  week  later  wrote  that  she 
should  marry  Lord  Dark  as  soon  as  a  decent  interval  had 
elapsed,  and  commanding  her  to  leave  France  and  come  to 
London,  where  employment  awaited  her. 

Julia  became  her  cool  practical  self  at  once.  She  packed 
her  boxes,  sent  for  a  fly  when  France  had  gone  for  one  of 
his  merciless  rides,  —  he  was  killing  his  horses,  —  and  left 
this  note  behind  her :  - 

"Mr.  Jones  is  dead.  Ishbel  will  marry  Lord  Dark  as 
soon  as  possible.  If  you  make  a  second  attempt  to  wreck 


HAROLD   FRANCE  263 

her  business  you  will  have  him  to  reckon  with.  He  is,  in 
any  case,  well  able  to  take  care  of  her,  and  no  doubt  she 
will  give  up  the  business.  As  there  is  now  no  way  in  which 
you  can  injure  her  or  any  of  my  friends,  I  have  made  up 
my  mind  to  leave  you  once  for  all.  You  will  save  yourself 
trouble  by  recalling  that  we  are  in  the  twentieth  century 
and  that  the  law  does  not  compel  me  to  live  with  you. 

"  JULIA." 


XII 

BRIDGIT  met  Julia  at  the  train  and  there  was  purpose  in 
her  eye.  Julia  laughed,  knowing  that  her  time  had  come, 
but  returned  the  warm  embrace  with  which  she  was  greeted, 
and  allowed  herself  to  be  carried  without  protest  to  the 
house  in  South  Audley  Street.  Mrs.  Herbert  was  no  less 
handsome  and  fascinating  than  of  old,  but  if  anything  she 
was  still  more  upright  of  carriage,  determined  of  eye,  and 
expressive  of  ardent  purpose.  Widowed  long  before  the 
war,  Geoffrey's  death  had  made  no  change  whatever  in 
her  life,  although  she  had  sent  after  him  the  sincere  and 
hearty  regret  she  would  have  felt  for  the  loss  of  any  friend. 
As  she  was  needed  in  South  Africa  she  had  gone  there,  made 
herself  useful  without  any  fuss,  and  returned  as  soon  as  she 
could  to  her  work  in  England.  This  work  was  now  clearly 
defined.  Bridgit  Herbert,  indeed,  was  not  the  woman  to 
spend  any  great  amount  of  time  seeking  or  floundering. 
No  dreamer,  her  mind,  once  awakened  to  the  futilities  of 
the  life  of  pleasure,  her  energies  roused,  she  had  applied 
herself  immediately  to  a  survey  and  study  of  her  times,  and 
found  the  work  which  coincided  with  her  particular  talents. 
Horrified  and  disgusted  with  poverty,  she  sought  and 
found  the  obvious  remedy  in  the  Socialism  of  the  ad 
vanced  and  more  practical  of  the  Fabians,  although  the 
" ideology"  of  the  older  Socialists  would  have  made  little 
appeal  to  her.  Soon  convinced,  however,  that  Socialism 
could  make  little  headway  against  the  individualistic 
and  acquisitive  mind  of  the  twentieth  century  male, 
her  fighting  blood  had  warred  with  her  direct  practical 
mind  until  she  had  happened  to  go  to  the  north  with  an 
inspector  of  factories,  and  listened  to  somewhat  of  Chris- 
tabel  Pankhurst's  propaganda  in  behalf  of  Woman's  Suf 
frage  among  the  trade-union  organizations,  a  factor  in 

•264 


HAROLD   FRANCE  265 

politics  of  increasing  power.  She  was  struck,  not  only  by 
the  abominable  grievances  of  the  working  women  in  gen 
eral  and  the  factory  women  in  particular,  but  by  their  in 
telligence  ;  nor  was  she  long  discovering  that  the  average 
of  intelligence  all 'over  England  was  higher  among  poor 
women  than  among  poor  men.  Where  a  man  grew  dull  in 
the  routine  of  his  work  and  further  blunted  his  faculties  in 
the  public  house,  his  wife,  with  her  manifold  petty  interests 
and  schemings  to  make  a  little  money  go  a  long  way,  and 
tilled  with  ever  changing  anxieties  for  her  children,  was  far 
more  alert  of  mind  and  eager  for  improvement.  It  did  not 
take  either  Mrs.  Pankhurst  or  her  sleepless  daughters  to  re 
mind  Bridgit  that  in  this  great  body  of  women  lay  the  future 
hope  of  Socialism,  or  of  any  reform  directed  against  the 
elimination  of  poverty.  But  this  army  was  of  no  more 
consequence  at  present  than  an  army  of  ants.  It  must 
have  the  ballot,  and  Bridgit  had  spent  much  of  her  time  in 
the  last  two  or  three  years  among  the  working  women  of 
England,  educating  them  to  a  sense  of  their  responsibilities. 
It  was  not  until  1903  that  the  women  of  the  middle  class 
were  generally  roused  from  the  apathy  into  which  they  had 
fallen,  with  the  exception  of  spurts,  since  1884,  and  the 
Woman's  Social  and  Political  Union  was  formed  by  Mrs. 
Pankhurst ;  but  when  Julia  arrived  in  London,  the  old 
movement  was  beginning  to  lift  its  head,  and  Bridgit  Her 
bert  was  not  the  only  hopeful  and  far-seeing  mind  at  work. 

"And  what  is  it  you  want  ?"  asked  Julia,  listening  to  the 
old  familiar  and  beloved  roar  of  London.  They  were  in 
Mrs.  Herbert's  den,  and  the  hostess,  her  eyes  still  radiant 
with  hospitality,  was  standing  behind  the  low  fire-screen 
with  a  hand  on  either  point.  Julia  wondered  if  White 
Lodge  were  a  nightmare. 

"The  vote.  Because  the  time  has  come,  men  having 
made  a  mess  of  most  things,  for  women  to  apply  their 
higher  faculties  to  the  domestic  affairs  of  the  nation;  also 
because  the  condition  of  poor  women  and  children  in  this 
country  is  appalling,  and  men  have  proved  their  utter  in 
difference  to  a  fact  which  is  also  a  factor  in  so  many  great 


266  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

incomes.  Moreover,  men  have  had  their  day,  just  as 
monarchies  and  aristocracies  have  had  their  day.  The 
day  of  woman  and  the  working-class  is  dawning,  and  it  is 
high  time." 

"And  are  women  ready?" 

"Those  that  are  not  can  be  taught.  That  is  what  we 
are  for." 

"We?  I  suppose,"  with  a  sigh  of  resignation,  "that 
is  my  metier,  what  I  have  been  struggling  toward  all  this 
time." 

"  You  recognize  that  you  have  abilities  at  last,  then  ?" 

"Oh,  yes,  and  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  I  had  ambition,  but 
just  now  I  don't  feel  either  ambitious  or  energetic.  I'm 
wild  to  go  to  India  and  the  rest  of  the  East  - 

"Oh,  nonsense,  we've  a  great  fight  coming,  and  you  must 
brace  up  and  be  one  of  the  generals.  Time  enough  to  idle 
when  you  are  old.  Just  now,  until  we  can  shut  France  up 
and  ask  the  courts  to  give  you  an  income,  you  are  going  to 
be  my  secretary  - 

"Do  you  really  need  one?" 

"Do  I?  Well,  rather.  I  had  one  of  the  best,  but  her 
mother  is  ill  and  she  may  not  be  able  to  return  to  me  for 
months.  You'll  have  tons  of  letters  to  write." 

"So  much  the  better,  for  I  couldn't  live  on  even  your 
charity." 

"Charity?  When  my  only  chance  to  have  an  intimate 
friend  is  in  a  secretary,  I  am  so  rushed  ?  I'm  companion- 
less,  but  life  is  frantically  interesting." 

And  if  Julia  found  herself  unable  to  reach  this  pitch  of 
enthusiasm,  she  certainly  found  the  new  book  of  life  offered 
for  her  daily  reading  quite  absorbing  enough  to  fill  her  time 
and  thoughts.  Her  clerical  hours  were  short.  The  rest 
of  the  day,  and  often  during  half  the  night,  she  was  seeing 
all  the  problems  at  first  hand.  She  went  daily  with  Bridgit 
to  the  East  Side  and  saw  poverty  outside  of  books ;  pov 
erty,  unthinkable,  criminal,  fleshless,  stinking.  At  night 
she  dreamed  that  all  the  babies  in  the  world  were  wailing 
for  food,  all  the  mothers  were  emaciated,  with  eyes  of 


HAROLD   FRANCE  267 

bitter  resignation,  all  the  little  girls  pinched  and  old 
and  hard.  Herded  misery,  hopeless  filth,  black  de 
spair.  Julia  was  quite  unable  to  recall  the  reverse  side  of 
the  picture,  in  which  many  were  healthy  in  spite  of  pov 
erty,  and  cheerful  if  only  because  temperament  is  stronger 
than  circumstance.  She  hoped  that  some  day  she  should 
fully  wake  up  and  burn  with  a  zeal  as  great  as  Bridgit's, 
but  now  her  brain  was  tired,  and,  had  she  but  known  it, 
she  protested  against  living  for  others  until  she  had  lived 
for  herself  first.  Quite  as  unconsciously  her  mind  was  made 
up  to  live  her  Eastern  romance  the  moment  she  was  free. 
She  heard  not  a  word  from  France,  but  guessed  the  truth ; 
he  had  forgotten  her.  If  this  were  the  case,  however,  it  might 
mean  that  at  any  moment  he  would  be  a  dangerous  luna 
tic,  and  she  felt  that  the  duke  should  be  warned.  As  this 
was  a  delicate  task,  and  as  her  uneasiness  grew,  she  finally, 
on  Bridgit's  advice,  wrote  to  his  firm  of  solicitors.  Solici 
tors  are  probably  the  most  conservative  members  of  con 
servative  England ;  but  full  of  duty  withal.  The  junior 
member  found  himself  overtaken  by  a  storm  near  White 
Lodge  and  craved  hospitality  of  his  patron's  distinguished 
kinsman.  France,  either  because  suspicion  was  still  active 
in  a  brain  not  clouded,  but  blazing  with  a  light  unknown  to 
common  mortals,  or  because  he  happened  to  be  in  a  good 
humor,  had  never  appeared  to  better  advantage.  The 
solicitor  returned  to  London  so  inflamed  with  indignation 
that  the  letter  he  wrote  to  Julia  breathed  his  contempt  for 
her  entire  sex.  Julia  shrugged  her  shoulders  and  dismissed 
the  matter  from  her  mind.  Let  them  work  out  their  own 
destinies. 

When  she  was  not  haunting  the  slums,  she  was  attend 
ing  meetings :  Fabian,  labor,  working-women,  coopera- 
tors',  old  and  new  suffrage;  at  all  of  which  the  eternal  prob 
lem  of  poverty  was  the  main  topic  of  discussion.  She  was 
also  taken  to  visit  the  slaughter-houses,  where  the  ignorance 
and  savagery  of  the  women  employed  was  primeval.  She 
visited  the  textile  factories  of  the  north,  where  the  work  of 
women  and  children  at  the  loom  was  relieved  only  by  al- 


268  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

ternate  hours  of  drudgery  in  the  home,  and  where  there 
seemed  no  object  in  living  whatever.  The  pit-brow  women, 
at  least,  had  developed  the  strength  and  endurance  of  men, 
and  no  doubt  would  have  proved  equally  efficient  in  war. 

Manchester  was  a  very  hot  bed  of  social  reform,  and 
Julia  was  shown  all  the  horrors  to  which  reform  owed  its 
concept.  She  wondered  increasingly  at  the  frail  fabric  of 
aristocracy  and  wealth  that  tottered  on  its  heaving  founda 
tions,  and  conceived  some  measure  of  respect  for  its  clever 
ness. 

This  drastic  experience  was  enlivened  now  and  again  by 
glimpses  of  Ishbel,  still  the  merriest,  and  now  the  happiest, 
of  mortals.  The  lines  of  fatigue  and  anxiety  had  disap 
peared,  she  was  once  more  the  prettiest  woman  in  London, 
and  she  needed  but  the  halo  of  her  future  position  as  Coun 
tess  of  Dark  to  make  good  people  wonder  how  they  could 
have  forgotten  it.  Julia  thought  her  the  most  fortunate 
of  women,  if  only  because  she  was  realizing  all  the  romantic 
dreams  of  her  girlhood  on  the  bogs.  Dark  was  handsome, 
clever,  kind,  almost  unselfish.  He  was  profoundly  in  love 
and  he  had  a  very  decent  income.  Above  all  he  had  the 
most  romantic  title  in  the  British  peerage  —  Earl  of  Dark  ! 
No  wonder  those  fluttering  moths  of  American  girls  wanted 
titles.  Such  a  one  would  make  the  dullest  man  in  England 
look  romantic  to  yearning  republican  eyes,  when  even  an 
Ishbel  was  enchanted  at  the  prospect  of  owning  it. 

"  And  yet  I  am  the  most  practical  of  mortals  —  the  half 
of  me  !"  she  said  gayly,  one  day,  as  they  sat  in  the  boudoir 
over,  the  shop,  drinking  tea  unseasoned  with  reform.  "Odd 
and  modern  combination  !" 

"But  you'll  give  up  the  shop?" 

"Not  really.  It  is  cooperative  now,  and  too  many 
would  suffer  if  I  neglected  it  altogether,  or  withdrew.  I 
must  continue  to  see  that  it  remains  a  success,  for  it  is 
something  to  have  solved  the  problem  of  living  for  a  few 
women,  at  least." 

Julia  hastily  changed  the  subject. 

"Shall  you  become  a  society  beauty  again  ?" 


HAROLD    FRANCE  269 

"I've  hardly  thought  of  it.  I  mean  to  be  happy,  and  I 
think  we'll  travel  and  live  in  the  country  for  a  year.  Society 
is  always  with  us.  That  first  year  !  No  duties  shall  share 
an  hour  of  it." 

"  Right  you  are.  I  never  could  love  and  never  want  to, 
and  I'm  quite  resigned  to  becoming  a  torch-bearer,  suffer 
ing  martyrdom,  if  necessary,  in  the  cause  of  woman,  but 
meanwhile  I've  something  up  my  sleeve.  I  dare  not  men 
tion  it  to  Bridgit  again,  and  shall  have  to  run  away  when  my 
time  comes,  but  I  can  confide  in  you.  The  moment  I  am 
free  I  am  going  to  India  —  Persia  —  Arabia  —  and  stay 
there  until  some  other  part  of  me  is  gratified,  I  hardly  know 
what.  I  only  know  that  the  call  is  unceasing  and  that  I 
never  can  accomplish  anything  here,  whole-heartedly,  at 
least,  until  I  have  got  that  of!  my  mind." 

"By  all  means,  go.  It's  unhealthy  to  repress  your 
strongest  personal  desires,  and  you  are  young  yet.  I  won 
der,  by  the  way,  if  you  will  ever  have  the  zeal  of  these  other 
women  ?  You  have  a  sort  of  sardonic  humor  - 

"I  want  a  career,  and  in  this  rising  inevitable  woman's 
movement  lies  my  chance.  When  my  time  comes,  my  zeal 
will  be  great  enough  —  for  all  they  can  give  me  I'll  pay 
them  back  a  hundred  fold.  I  want  power  if  only  because 
nothing  less  will  pay  the  debt  of  these  last  years,  and  I  am 
horribly  sorry  for  the  poor  of  the  world.  When  I  am  ready 
I  shall  jump  into  the  arena  with  my  torch,  but  I'll  find  my 
self  wholly  in  the  East  first." 

"Why  not  go  now?     I  can  let  you  have  the  money." 

"No,  I'll  wait." 

As  it  happened  she  did  not  have  long  to  wait.  She  and 
Bridgit  were  driving  home  one  evening  after  talking  to  an 
intelligent  club  of  East  End  women,  when  they  heard  the 
familiar  cry  of  "Extra,"  and  a  flaming  handbill  was  waved 
in  front  of  the  window  as  the  brougham  was  blocked. 
Bridgit,  whose  quick  glance  overlooked  nothing,  exclaimed, 
"Great  heaven  !"  and  leaned  out,  throwing  the  boy  a  six 
pence. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Julia,  languidly.     She  had  been 


2 70  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

forced  on  to  the  platform,  and  was  still  cold  from  fright. 
"A  strike?" 

Bridgit  lifted  the  tube  and  gave  an  order  to  the  coach 
man  that  made  Julia  sit  erect. 

"Kingsborough  House."  Then  to  her  companion, 
"  France  tried  to  kill  the  duke  this  afternoon." 

They  found  Kingsborough  House  in  confusion,  the  flunkys 
looking  as  flabby  as  if  the  ramrods  in  their  backs  had 
dissolved,  leaving  nothing  but  the  sawdust  stuffing.  The 
duchess  was  in  hysterics  upstairs  ("she  is  sure  to  be  an 
anti,"  remarked  Mrs.  Herbert) ;  the  duke  was  under  the 
care  of  his  doctor ;  but  Lady  Arabella  received  them,  and 
graciously  observed  that  she  was  glad  to  see  that  Julia 
still  felt  herself  a  member  of  the  house  of  France.  She  told 
them  the  story,  which  was  brief  enough.  France  had  sud 
denly  appeared  that  afternoon,  and  upon  being  shown  into 
the  duke's  study  had  sprung  upon  his  kinsman  before  the 
footman  had  closed  the  door,  demanding  that  he  should  ab 
dicate  in  his  favor,  threatening  him  with  immediate  death 
if  he  refused.  The  footman  had  called  other  footmen,  and 
it  had  taken  four  of  them  to  hold  France  down  while  the 
duke,  his  coat  torn  of!  and  his  face  bleeding,  had  himself 
telephoned  for  the  police.  France  meanwhile  had  strug 
gled  like  a  demon,  shouting  that  he  had  come  to  kill  not  only 
the  duke  but  the  boy,  that  his  time  had  come  to  live  and 
theirs  to  die,  that  they  were  deliberate  malicious  enemies 
who  stood  between  him  and  the  greatness  which  would 
permit  him  to  send  his  invitations  to  the  crowned  heads  of 
Europe;  and  "heaven  knows  what  else,"  added  the  dis 
tressed  Lady  Arabella.  "To  think  of  poor  Harold  going 
mad.  At  first  we  thought  he  might  merely  have  been 
drinking,  but  with  the  police  came  poor  Edward's  doctor, 
and  he  pronounced  him  as  mad  as  a  hatter.  Do  stay  here 
with  me  to-night,  Julia.  You  arc  a  clever  little  thing,  and 
always  keep  your  wits  about  you." 

Julia  remained  at  Kingsborough  House  for  several  days. 
When  the  duke  heard  what  little  of  her  own  story  she  was 
willing  to  tell,  and  that  she  had  endeavored  to  protect  him 


HAROLD   FRANCE  271 

through  his  solicitors,  he  was  honest  enough  to  admit  that 
he  would  have  been  hard  to  convince  of  a  kinsman's  in 
sanity,  and  generous  enough  to  be  grateful  to  her.  Indeed, 
so  relieved  was  he  at  his  narrow  escape,  and  at  the  report  of 
the  lunacy  commission  which  incarcerated  France  for  life, 
that  he  bubbled  over  with  something  like  human  nature; 
and.  as  the  expensive  sanatorium  would  cut  deeply  into  his 
cousin's  original  income,  announced  his  intention  of  giving 
Julia  for  life  seven  hundred  and  fifty  of  the  thousand  pounds 
he  had  so  long  allowed  her  husband.  Julia  refused  this 
offer,  until  the  duke  told  her  impatiently  that  if  she  did  not 
take  it  he  would  merely  pay  Harold's  expenses  in  the  sana 
torium,  and  leave  her  to  the  courts,  also  that  she  was  legally 
a  member  of  his  family,  and  pride,  therefore,  absurd. 
Julia  turned  this  over,  and  concluding  that  the  house  of 
France  owed  her  a  good  deal'  more  than  it  could  ever  pay, 
consented  and  thought  no  more  about  it.  A  month  later 
she  was  on  a  P.  and  O.  steamer  bound  for  India. 


BOOK   IV 
HADJI   SADRA 


UPON  Julia's  return  to  England  in  April  of  1906  she  was 
greeted  with  the  news  of  the  destruction  of  San  Francisco 
by  earthquake  and  fire.  Nigel,  to  whom  it  had  occurred 
to  her  to  send  a  telegram  from  Flushing,  met  her  at  Queen- 
boro',  and,  his  imagination  fired  by  the  great  physical 
drama,  it  was  the  first  piece  of  news  he  imparted.  Julia 
although  she  was  looking  straight  into  a  pair  of  ardent 
handsome  eyes  (Nigel  had  recovered  his  looks,  and  the  sub 
tle  marks  of  Time  enhanced  them),  sent  her  mind  on  a 
flight  of  seven  thousand  miles  to  centre  about  the  young 
American  friend  that  she  had  so  nearly  forgotten. 

"He  must  be  —  let  me  see  —  five-  or  six-and-twenty," 
she  announced. 

"  Who  ?  "     Nigel's  eyes  flashed. 

"A  Californian  I  met  when  he  was  a  boy  —  Mrs.  Bode's 
brother.  You  can't  mean  that  everybody  was  killed." 

"Let  us  hope  not.  First  reports  are  always  exaggerated. 
But  the  Californians  in  London  are  frantic  —  can't  get  a 
penny  on  their  letters  of  credit,  either.  Indeed,  nothing 
outside  of  our  own  bailiwick  has  excited  us  as  much  as  this 
in  many  a  long  day." 

"  I  felt  some  big  earthquakes  in  India  - 

"Oh,  nothing  like  this,"  said  Nigel,  who  would  brook 
no  cheapening  of  the  magnificent  panorama  in  his  mind. 
"With  the  possible  exception  of  the  eruption  of  Mont  Pel6e, 
this  is  the  most  dramatic  thing  that  Nature  has  done  in 
our  time.  Think  of  it !  Not  a  second's  warning.  The 
most  important  city  on  the  Pacific  Coast  and  its  half  mil 
lion  people  wiped  out.  The  earth  rocking  miles  of  blazing 
buildings  for  hours.  Precipices  along  the  coast  plunging 
into  the  sea!  The  hills  rolling  like  grain.  Jupiter  !  What 
a  sight  from  an  airship!  Would  that  I  had  been  there  to 


see." 


275 


276  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"I  don't  fancy  you  would  have  seen  much  from  an  air 
ship,  if  there  was  any  smoke  with  the  fire.  Have  you  re 
constructed  all  that  from  bald  cablegrams?" 

"The  bald  facts  are  enough  - 

"To  have  made  your  imagination  happy.  I  have  always 
said  that  you  would  satisfy  it  yet  with  a  work  of  pure  ro 
mance.  But  I  don't  mean  to  joke.  It  is  too  awful.  I 
heard  only  a  confused  rumor  on  the  train  yesterday.  Poor 
Dan  !  But  I  feel  sure  that  he  could  take  care  of  himself, 
and  of  a  good  many  others  —  if  there  was  any  chance  at  all." 

"Possibly.  But  enough  of  horrors.  I  want  to  look  at 
you."  (They  had  a  compartment  to  themselves.)  "You 
must  have  enjoyed  yourself  quite  as  well  as  you  meant  to 
do.  I  never  saw  any  one  so  —  well  —  improved,  although 
that  sounds  banal.  It  never  occurred  to  me  that  you  could 
be  prettier  than  when  you  first  came  to  London,  but  you 
are.  Your  eyes  —  what  is  it  ?  " 

"Oh,  my  eyes  have  seen  things.  I  have  done  a  good  deal 
more  than  enjoy  myself." 

"Have  you  come  back  to  be  the  high  priestess  of  some 
cult?" 

"Not  I.  I  have  sat  at  the  feet  of  wise  men  in  Benares 
and  in  Persia,  and  learned  —  a  little.  We  Occidentals 
are  never  initiated  into  the  deeper  mysteries.  They  de 
spise —  or  fear  —  us  too  much  for  that.  But  even  a  little 
of  the  wisdom  of  the  East  must  widen  our  vision  and  prove 
an  everlasting  antidote  to  the  modern  spirit  of  unrest  - 
about  nothing." 

"And  enable  you  to  forget  your  friends  for  four  years? 
We  have  each  had  three  letters  from  you  and  three  or  four 
times  as  many  post  cards." 

"One  secret  of  enjoying  the  East  is  to  forget  the  West. 
And  for  at  least  a  year  I  was  intoxicated  —  drunk  is  more 
expressive  —  with  its  enchantments.  The  spell  broke  in 
Calcutta,  where  I  spent  a  winter  in  society.  Then  I  went 
to  Benares  to  study." 

"You  could  have  told  me  as  much  in  a  cablegram.  What 
took  you  to  Acca?" 


HADJI   SADRA  277 

"I  went  to  see  Abdul  Baha  Abbas,  and  investigate  the 
new  religion.  My  master  told  me  of  it  in  India,  and  I  found 
that  in  Persia,  after  losing  some  twenty-five  thousand  by 
massacre,  it  had  got  the  best  of  its  enemies  by  converting 
the  government.  Even  the  women  are  receiving  the  higher 
education.  So  I  went  on  to  headquarters.  Not  that  any 
religion  could  make  a  personal  appeal  to  me,  but  I  had  an 
idea  about  this  one.  The  idea  proved  to  be  reasonable, 
and,  accordingly,  I  have  brought  you  the  Bahai  religion  as 
a  present." 

"  Brought  me  ?  What  should  I  do  with  it  ?  " 
"Make  use  of  it  to  your  own  glory  and  the  benefit  of  the 
race.  We  have  always  agreed  that  Socialism  would  never 
prevail  until  it  acquired  a  soul.  That  admirably  con 
structed  but  unappealing  machine  needs  the  Bahai  religion 
to  give  it  light  and  fire;  and  the  Bahai  religion,  sane  and 
practical  as  it  is,  needs  a  good  working  medium.  Com 
bined,  they  will  sweep  the  world.  With  your  skill  and  en 
thusiasm,  you  will  find  the  task  congenial  and  not  too  dif 
ficult.  Like  Socialism,  the  new  and  practical  sort,  Bahaism 
must  begin  at  the  top  and  filter  down,  for  it  makes  its  ap 
peal  to  the  brain,  to  the  advanced  thinker,  to  those  that 
feel  the  need  of  a  religion,  but  have  long  since  outgrown  all 
the  silly  old  dogmas,  with  their  bathos  and  sentimentalities, 
primarily  intended  only  for  the  ignorant.  Unity  in  rights. 
Freedom  of  the  political  as  well  as  the  spiritual  conscience. 
In  other  words,  the  elimination  of  all  that  provokes  war ; 
which  means  universal  peace.  Peace.  Peace.  Peace. 
That  is  the  keynote  of  the  Bahai  religion,  as  love  was  in 
tended  to  be  of  Christianity.  All  the  best  principles  of  the 
five  prevailing  religions  are  incorporated  in  this,  all  the 
barriers  between  them  razed,  and  all  the  nonsense  and  nar 
row-mindedness  left  out.  And  the  keynote  of  all  this  ? 
Knowledge.  True  knowledge,  intellectual  as  well  as  spirit 
ual.  The  universal  spread  of  science  and  the  development 
of  the  arts,  to  war  in  men's  minds  —  the  real  battleground 
—  against  the  greed  of  money  which  makes  man  so  stunted, 
uninteresting,  and  miserable  to-day.  One  language,  one  pco- 


278  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

pie,  one  faith.  No  hierarchy.  Good  morals  and  charitable 
deeds  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  worship  of  one  God,  and  the 
universal  peace,  to  be  founded  in  the  centre  of  the  civilized 
world.  Unity  and  Peace!  Then  we  are  promised  that 
the  earthly  world  shall  become  heavenly.  Not  in  our 
time.  But  it  will  be  interesting  to  help  start  the  ball  roll 
ing,  and  to  watch  it  roll.  Every  man  is  supposed  to  have  a 
latent  desire  for  perfection.  There  is  your  cue.  There 
lies  the  brain  of  this  religion.  What  a  subtle  appeal  to 
vanity,  man's  primal  and  deathless  weakness  !  Even  greed 
only  ministers  to  it.  If  I  wrote  fiction  I  should  take  this 
cue  myself,  but  as  it  is  I  have  brought  it  to  you.  Go  to 
Acca,  get  it  all  at  first  hand,  and  write  your  immortal 
book." 

"So  you  did  think  of  me  that  far?"  Nigel  stared  at 
her,  fascinated,  but  with  his  man's  ardor  checked.  In 
spite  of  her  frank  delight  in  greeting  him,  the  spontaneous 
friendliness  of  her  manner,  she  seemed  to  him  incredibly 
remote.  The  eyes  that  looked  straight  into  his  had  new 
and  unfathomable  depths,  and  he  wondered  if  she  had  not 
learned  more  of  Eastern  lore  than  she  had  any  intention  of 
admitting. 

"Of  course,"  she  said,  smiling.  "And  I  have  speculated 
a  great  deal  about  you.  All  I  know  is  that  you  won  the 
Nobel  Peace  Prize  —  a  wonderful  book  !  I  read  it  —  and 
your  last  —  in  the  colonial  edition.  But  I  know  nothing 
else  about  you.  Have  you  fallen  in  love  with  any  one 
else?" 

"No,  I  have  not,"  said  Nigel,  crossly,  "and  I  am  not  so 
sure  that  I  am  still  in  love  with  you.  I  only  know  that  you 
haunt  my  imagination  and  make  all  other  women  seem  flat." 

"Ah  !  We  could  be  the  ideal  friends.  But  hasn't  any 
thing  happened  to  you  besides  merely  writing  books  and 
becoming  a  peer  of  the  realm  ?" 

"Oh,  yes,  I  have  been  discovered  by  the  United  States 
of  America." 

"They  were  long  enough  about  it.  But  they  always  get 
hold  of  the  little  men  first." 


HADJI   SADRA  279 

"Well,  I  might  be  one  of  the  little  ones,  judging  by  the 
fuss  they  are  making  over  me.  Reams  of  stuff  in  magazines 
and  the'Sunday  newspapers  —  all  about  my  'great'  works ; 
in  which  I  find  myself  credited  with  an  assortment  of  phi 
losophies  no  two  men  could  carry ;  at  least  a  hundred  atti 
tudes  toward  Life ;  and  incredible  designs  upon  the  peace 
of  the  world  —  although  still  others  maintain  that  I  am 
merely  a  dilettante  aristocrat  playing  with  picturesque 
material.  I  am  so  bewildered  that  I  hardly  know  what  I 
am  myself.  Some  of  the  adverse  criticisms  are  so  good 
that  I  forget  the  writer  doesn't  in  the  least  know  what  he 
is  writing  about.  The  only  thing  clear  to  me  is  that  my 
income  is  trebled,  and  that  I  am  offered  unheard-of  sums 
(from  the  modest  European  point  of  view)  to  write  for  their 
magazines  and  newspapers.  I  have  even  been  invited  to 
go  over  and  lecture,  and  am  promised  a  unique  advertise 
ment :  'The  Peer  among  Authors.'  Fancy  trying  to  be 
original  after  that !  I  believe  I  have  also  a  cult  —  and  am 
making  hay  while  the  sun  shines ;  for  I  am  given  to  under 
stand  that  crazes  don't  last  long  over  there.  Each  of  us, 
as  discovered,  -—  sometimes  a  few  of  us  at  once,  —  is  the 
'greatest  of  modern  English  authors.'  I  should  think  their 
own  authors  would  combine,  capture  the  press,  and  train 
their  guns  on  us,  and  their  eloquence  on  their  public :  it 
would  appear  that  the  American  public,  in  art  matters, 
believes  everything  it  is  told  long  enough  and  loud  enough. 
Far  be  it  from  me,  however,  to  complain.  It  has  enabled 
me  to  put  a  new  roof  on  my  old  castle  —  as  good  as  an 
American  wife,  without  the  bother  —  and  buy  a  villa  on 
the  Riviera  —  which  I  am  hoping  you  will  consent  to 
occupy  with  me." 

"Not  I.  You  go  to  Acca,  and  I  to  my  work  here.  If  it 
hadn't  haunted  me,  assisted  by  indignant  letters  from 
Bridcrft,  I  doubt  if  I  ever  should  have  left  the  East.  But  if 
the  East  is  in  my  blood,  some  magnet  in  the  West  directed 
at  my  brain  cells  dragged  me  home.  Besides,  what  have 
I  developed  myself  for  ?  Now  is  the  time  to  find  out." 

Nigel  sighed.     "The  old  order  changeth.     You  women 


280  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

are  not  far  off  from  getting  all  you  want,  no  doubt  about 
that,  but  you  will  lose  more  than  you  gain." 

"From  your  point  of  view.  It  is  not  what  you  want. 
We  shall  get  what  we  want,  which  is  more  to  the  point." 

"Well,  I  can't  blame  you,"  said  Nigel,  honestly.  "Man 
was  bound  to  have  his  day  of  reckoning.  For  my  part  I 
hardly  care,  being  a  lover  of  change,  and  wanting  to  see  all 
of  this  world's  progress  it  shall  be  possible  to  crowd  into 
my  own  little  span.  And  although  you  are  far  from  all  the 
old  ideals,  it  would  be  the  more  interesting  to  live  with  you. 
I  have  always  had  a  sneaking  preference  for  polygamy  - 
one  wife  for  children  and  solid  comfort,  and  one  for  com 
panionship  —  to  keep  a  man  from  roving  abroad." 

To  his  surprise  Julia  colored  and  a  look  of  distress  and 
apprehension  routed  the  bright  composure  of  her  face. 

"I  should  like  children  !"  she  exclaimed.  "They  would 
not  interfere  with  my  work,  either.  Why  should  they?" 
Then  she  darted  off  the  track  of  self.  "Tell  me  of  Ishbel. 
She  is  happy,  I  feel  sure,  and  she  has  two  dear  little  babies. 
I  am  the  godmother  of  the  first." 

"Yes,  but  she  haunts  that  shop.  It  was  running  to 
seed  without  her,  and  she  had  no  sooner  taken  hold  again 
than  the  work  microbe  woke  up.  Dark  doesn't  fancy  it, 
but  says  there's  nothing  for  a  sensible  man  to  do  these  days 
but  take  woman  as  he  finds  her  and  chew  his  little  cud  in 
silence.  He  doesn't  forget  how  both  Ishbel  and  Bridgit 
calmly  shuffled  off  their  husbands  when  they  had  no  fur 
ther  use  for  them." 

"Work.  I  fancy  that  was  the  real  magnet  that  brought 
me  back.  I  revelled  —  revelled  —  but  the  reaction  set  in 
like  a  rising  tide,  and  at  last  was  quite  as  irresistible.  I 
should  have  come  back  before  this,  but  I  wanted  to  remain 
in  Acca  until  I  was  convinced  that  the  Bahai  religion  was 
all  it  attempted  to  be.  Go  there  at  once.  Abdul  Baha 
has  promised  that  you  shall  live  in  his  house.  Moreover, 
they  want  a  big  author  to  exploit  it  in  the  West  before  it  has 
been  misrepresented  and  cheapened  by  the  swarm  of  little 
writers,  always  in  search  of  what  they  call  'copy.'  ' 


HADJI   SADRA  281 

"I  should  feel  like  a  bally  hypocrite.  I've  no  more  re 
ligion  in  me  than  you  have.  If  God  is  in  man,  and  self  is 
God,  then  that  atom  we  call  self  is  what  is  given  us  to  lean 
on  without  asking  for  more.  To  demand  help  outside  of 
ourselves  is  a  confession  of  failure." 

"  Of  course.  But  how  many  have  penetrated  the  secrets 
that  far  ?  The  majority  must  have  a  religion  to  talk  about 
and  lean  on.  When  they  get  the  right  one,  the  world  will 
be  a  far  more  comfortable  place  to  live  in.  That,  to  my 
mind,  is  the  whole  point.  You  and  I  have  useful  brains, 
and  it  is  our  business  to  help  the  world  along.  In  my  in 
most  soul,  I  don't  care  any  more  for  the  cause  of  woman 
or  the  rights  of  the  working-class  —  save  in  so  far  as  it  gives 
me  the  horrors  to  think  of  any  one  being  cold  and  hungry  - 
than  you  care  about  religion ;  but  I  shall  work  just  as  hard 
for  both  as  if  I  never  had  had  a  thought  for  anything  else. 
Now  tell  me  about  Bridgit." 


n 

NIGEL  left  her  at  the  door  of  her  hotel  and  did  not  see  her 
again  for  two  days.  Little  did  he  guess  the  reason.  He 
carried  away  to  his  club  (both  resentfully  and  sadly)  the 
picture  of  a  new  Julia,  all  intellect,  poise,  and  mystery; 
a  Julia  from  whom  the  impulsiveness,  ingenuousness,  and 
young  enthusiasm  had  gone  forever,  left  in  that  unfathom 
able  East  which  gives  knowledge  and  takes  personality ; 
a  cold  brilliant  creature,  with  developed  genius,  no  doubt, 
but  with  nothing  left  to  beg  unto  a  man's  heart  and  senses. 
And  this,  indeed,  was  one  side  of  Julia,  and  the  only  one  she 
purposed  the  world  should  see ;  because  in  time  it  was  to 
be  her  whole  self,  and  she  a  happy  mortal. 

When  she  shut  the  door  of  her  sitting-room  in  the  gloomy 
exclusive  hotel  in  one  of  the  quiet  streets  near  Piccadilly, 
to  which  she  had  telegraphed  for  rooms,  she  subsided 
into  the  easiest  chair  and  cried  for  half  an  hour ;  nor 
did  she  ascend  from  the  slough  of  her  despondency 
for  the  rest  of  the  day.  For  the  past  four  years 
she  had  lived  virtually  out  of  doors.  As  her  angry 
frightened  eyes  looked  back  they  recalled  nothing  but 
floods  of  golden  light,  an  endless  procession  of  Orientals, 
gleaming  bronze  or  copper,  turbanned,  hooded,  dressed  in 
flowing  robes  of  white  or  every  primal  hue ;  streets,  crooked, 
latticed,  balconied,  sun-baked ;  gorgeous  bazaars ;  life, 
color,  beauty,  romance  (to  Western  eyes)  everywhere.  She 
was  come  to  a  London  wrapped  in  its  old  familiar  drizzle ; 
huddled  over  the  small  grate,  its  cold  penetrated  her  marrow; 
in  the  narrow  street,  dull,  grimy,  flat,  there  was  rarely  a 
sound.  As  she  had  entered  the  ugly  entrance  hall  below 
she  had  been  met  by  two  solemn  footmen,  one  of  whom  had 
conducted  her  slowly  up  three  flights  of  stairs  (there  was  no 
lift  in  this  exclusive  hostelry) ;  another  followed  an  hour 

282 


HADJA   SADRA  283 

later  with  her  luncheon  of  good  food  cooked  abominably. 
The  butler  stood  in  front  of  her  like  a  statue  and  pretended 
not  to  observe  her  swollen  eyes. 

If  she  had  been  wise,  she  would  have  gone  to  the  Carlton 
or  the  Ritz,  where  at  least  she  could  have  descended  at 
intervals  into  a  very  good  similitude  of  luxury  and  mag 
nificence,  been  able  to  fancy  herself  in  the  midst  of  "life  "; 
she  would  have  dined  with  brilliantly  dressed  and  animated 
people,  and,  incidentally,  been  cheered  by  French  cooking. 
But,  like  many  others,  she  favored  the  small  hotel  where  one 
was  almost  obliged  to  bring  a  letter  of  introduction,  where 
one  was  supposed  to  be  "at  home"  with  personal  servants ; 
and  where,  indeed,  one  was  as  deeply  immersed  in  privacy 
and  silence  as  if  quite  at  home  in  North  Hampstead.  Julia, 
who  had  been  consoled  for  the  loss  of  the  dainty  dishes  of 
the  East  by  the  kaleidoscopic  pleasures  of  the  continent, 
choked  over  her  shoulder  of  mutton,  large-leaved  greens, 
and  hard  round  peas  unseasoned,  boiled  potatoes,  and  pud 
ding,  wept  once  more  after  the  remains  and  the  butler  had 
vanished,  cursed  women,  and  half  determined  to  take  the 
night  train  for  Egypt  and  Syria. 

She  had  not  wanted  to  "be  met,"  shrinking  from  too 
prompt  a  reminder  of  the  past.  Now  she  wished  that 
everybody  she  had  ever  known  had  crowded  the  platform 
at  Victoria,  and  "rushed  her  about,"  until  she  felt  at  home 
once  more  in  this  huge  and  dismal  and  overpowering  mass 
of  London.  And  as  ill-luck  would  have  it  even  her  two 
best  friends  would  be  denied  her  for  days,  possibly  for  weeks. 
Ishbel  was  in  Paris.  Bridgit  was  in  Cannes  recovering  'rom 
severe  physical  injuries  incurred  in  the  cause  of  woman.  At 
one  of  the  great  Liberal  meetings  in  the  north,  during  the 
General  Election,  she  had  risen  and  demanded  that  the  new 
Government  declare  its  intentions  regarding  the  enfran 
chisement  of  women.  She  had  been  pulled  down,  one  man 
had  held  his  hat  before  her  face,  and  when  she  struggled  to 
her  feet  again,  protesting  that  she  had  the  same  right  to 
interrupt  the  speaker  with  questions  as  any  of  the  men  that 
had  gone  unreproved,  she  had  been  dragged  out  by  six 


284  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

stewards  and  plain-clothes  detectives,  with  as  much  vigor 
as  if  she  had  been  the  six  men  and  they  the  one  dauntless 
female.  They  had  mauled  her,  twisted  her,  pummelled  her, 
and  finally  flung  her  with  violence  to  the  pavement.  She 
had  gathered  herself  up,  although  suffering  from  a  broken 
rib,  attempted  to  address  the  crowd  in  the  streets, 
been  arrested  and  swept  off  to  the  town  hall.  She  had 
given  a  false  name  that  she  might  be  shown  no  favor, 
and  the  next  morning,  refusing  to  pay  her  fine,  was  sent  to 
gaol  for  seven  days.  She  had  lain  in  a  cold  cell  for  nearly 
twenty-four  hours  unattended,  in  solitary  confinement,  and 
on  a  small  allowance  of  food  which  she  could  not  have 
eaten  if  well.  At  the  gaol  she  asked  to  be  sent  to  the  hos 
pital,  but  before  her  request  was  granted,  a  member  of  the 
new  Government  ascertained  her  name,  and,  horrified  at 
the  possible  consequences  to  himself,  paid  her  fine  sum 
marily,  and  sent  her  to  a  nursing  home.  Here  she  had  lain 
until  her  broken  rib  had  mended,  and  was  now  in  the  south 
of  France  assuaging  a  severe  attack  of  intercostal  neu 
ralgia. 

This  story,  told  by  Nigel,  had  filled  Julia  with  an  intense 
wrath,  and  struck  the  first  real  spark  of  enthusiasm  in  her 
for  the  cause  of  woman,  but  it  burned  low  in  these  dull 
hours  of  loneliness  and  nostalgia,  and  she  wished  that  her 
magnificent  friend  had  remained  as  in  the  early  days  of  their 
acquaintance,  whole  in  bone  and  skin,  and  untroubled  of 
mind. 

But  if  Julia  was  acting  much  as  the  average  woman  acts 
during  her  first  hours  alone  in  an  immense  and  inhospitable 
city,  which  the  sun  refuses  to  shine  upon,  a  city  that  knows 
not  of  her  existence  and  cares  less,  she  was  furious  with 
herself,  even  before  she  recovered.  Where  was  the  poise, 
the  serenity,  the  grand  impersonal  attitude,  she  had  learned 
from  her  subtle  masters  in  the  East  ?  Where  the  full  calm 
determination  with  which  she  had  returned  to  take  up  her 
self-elected  duties,  to  gratify  a  long  latent  but  now  full- 
grown  ambition  to  build  a  unique  pedestal  for  herself  in  the 
world ;  in  other  words,  to  achieve  fame  and  power  ?  Out 


HADJI   SADRA  285 

there  it  had  been  both  easy  and  natural  to  plan,  to  dream, 
to  vision  herself  at  the  head  of  womankind,  burning  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  artist,  even  if  the  cause  itself  left  her 
cold.  She  had  believed  herself  made  over  to  that  extent, 
at  least ;  and  now  she  dared  not  see  Nigel  Herbert  lest  she 
marry  him  ofT-hand,  and  insure  herself  a  life  companion  and 
the  common  happiness  of  woman. 

She  denied  him  admittance,  even  refusing  to  go  down  to 
the  telephone  (such  were  the  primitive  arrangements  of  this 
exclusive  hostelry),  and  vowed  that  once  more,  peradvcn- 
ture  for  the  last  time,  she  would  wrestle  with  her  peculiar 
problem  and  inspect  her  new  armor  at  every  joint. 

For  Julia,  even  during  her  first  year  in  India,  had  learned 
lessons  untaught  by  Eastern  philosophers.  She  had  no  diffi 
culty  in  recalling  the  moment  when  that  green  shoot  had 
wriggled  its  head  out  of  what  she  called  the  morass  in  the 
depths  of  her  nature.  She  had  been  floating  one  moonlight 
night  in  a  boat  propelled  by  a  turbanned  silhouette,  on  a 
small  lake  surrounded  by  a  park  as  dense  as  a  jungle. 
From  the  head  of  the  lake  rose  a  marble  palace  of  many 
towers  and  balconies,  whose  white  steps  were  in  the  green 
waters.  Just  overhead  was  poised  the  full  moon,  —  a  crys 
tal  lantern  lit  with  a  white  flame.  A  nightingale  was  pour 
ing  forth  its  love  song.  Warm,,  delicious  odors  were  wafted 
across  the  lake  from  the  gardens  about  the  palace. 

Julia,  whose  soul  had  been  steeped  in  all  this  beauty,  her 
senses  swimming  with  pleasure,  suddenly,  with  no  apparent 
volition,  sat  upright  and  gasped  with  resentment.  Why 
was  she  alone  on  such  a  night  ?  Why,  in  heaven's  name, 
was  not  a  man  with  her, —  the  most  charming  man  the  world 
held,  of  course  (there  never  was  anything  moderate  in 
Julia's  demands  upon  Life)  ?  why  was  not  this  perfect  mate, 
his  own  soul  steeped,  his  senses  swimming,  even  as  were  her 
own,  sitting  beside  her,  looking  at  her  with  eyes  that  pro 
claimed  them  as  one  and  divinely  happy?  It  was  the 
night  and  the  place  for  the  very  fullness  of  love,  and  she 
was  alone.  How  incongruous  !  How  inartistic  !  What  a 
waste  !  Women  have  been  known  to  feel  like  this  in  Venice. 


286  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

How  much  more  so  Julia,  in  the  untravelled  undesecrated 
depths  of  India,  at  night,  with  the  moon  and  the  nightingale 
and  the  heavy  warm  scents  of  Oriental  trees,  and  shrubs, 
and  flowers  ! 

When  Julia  realized  where  her  unleashed  imagination  had 
soared,  she  frowned,  deliberately  laughed,  and  opened  her 
inner  ear  that  she  might  enjoy  the  crash  to  earth.  But 
she  sat  up  all  that  night.  From  her  room  in  the  guest 
bungalow  (her  friends  had  provided  her  with  many  letters), 
she  could  look  upon  the  white  palace,  gleaming  like  sculp 
tured  ivory  against  the  black  Eastern  night,  hear  the  waters 
lapping  the  marble  steps.  Strange  sounds  came  out  of  the 
quarters  devoted  to  the  superfluous  wives  and  their  female 
offspring :  passionate  melancholy  singing,  sharp  infuriated 
cries,  monotonous  string  music,  infinitely  hopeless. 

And  she  was  free,  free  as  the  nightingale,  free  to  love; 
young,  beautiful,  with  the  world  at  her  feet.  What  a  fool 
she  was! 

Although  she  had  now  been  in  India  for  nearly  a  year, 
this  was  the  first  time  the  sex  within  her  had  stirred,  and 
she  had  been  one  with  scenes  lovelier  than  this,  revelled 
from  first  to  last  in  all  the  beauty  and  variety  and  mystery 
and  color  which  she  had  craved  so  long  in  England.  In 
spite  of  dirt  and  stench,  of  entomological  bedfellows,  bul 
lock  carts,  and  lack  of  every  luxury  in  which  the  Brit 
ish  soul  delights,  she  was  too  young  and  too  philosophical 
to  have  permitted  the  worst  of  these  to  interfere  with  her 
complete  satisfaction.  And  it  had,  this  wondrous  East, 
absorbed  and  satisfied  her  until  to-night.  She  had  asked 
for  nothing  more.  And  now  she  wanted  a  lover. 

Looking  back  upon  her  life  with  France,  she  discovered 
that  she  had  practically  forgiven  him  the  moment  she  had 
been  assured  of  his  insanity.  No  doubt  he  had  been  irre 
sponsible  from  the  first.  This  admission  had  subconsciously 
wiped  out  his  offences,  and  with  them  the  memory  of  that 
whole  odious  experience.  She  still  blamed  her  mother,  but 
she  had  pitied  France  when  she  thought  of  him  at  all.  The 
heavy  noxious  growth  in  her  soul  had  withered  and  disap- 


HADJI   SADRA  287 

pcared,  the  dark  waters  turned  clear  and  sparkling.     She 
was  ready  for  love,  for  the  rights  and  the  glory  of  youth. 

Kneeling  there,  gazing  out  at  the  enchanted  palace, 
watching  the  moon  sail  over  the  misty  tree-tops  to  disappear 
into  the  dark  embrace  of  the  Himalayas,  her  annoyance 
passed,  she  exulted  in  this  new  development,  these  vast  and 
turbulent  demands.  She  would  find  love  and  find  it  soon. 

With  Julia  to  think  was  to  do.  The  next  day  she  set  out 
on  her  quest.  To  love  any  of  these  Indian  princes  was  out 
of  the  question,  even  though  she  might  live  in  marble  pal 
aces  for  the  rest  of  her  life.  There  was  nothing  for  it  but  to 
go  to  Calcutta  and  present  her  letters  to  the  viceroy  and 
notable  British  residents.  She  found  Calcutta  the  most  ill- 
smelling  city  on  earth,  but  its  society  was  brilliant  and  in 
dustrious,  and  she  met  more  charming  men  than  in  all  her 
years  in  England.  For  some  obscure  reason  Englishmen 
always  are  more  charming,  natural,  and  even  original  in  the 
colonies  and  dependencies  than  on  their  own  misty  isle. 
Perhaps  they  are  more  adaptable  than  they  think,  more 
susceptible  to  "atmosphere"  than  would  seem  possible, 
bred  as  they  are  into  formalities  and  mannerisms  of  a  thou 
sand  years  of  tradition,  too  hide-bound  for  mere  human 
nature  to  combat  unassisted. 

Moreover,  in  India  they  wear  helmets,  which  are  vastly 
becoming,  and  white  linen  or  khaki,  which  wars  with  stolid 
ity.  Julia  met  them  by  the  dozen  and  liked  them  all.  She 
danced  six  nights  out  of  seven,  flirted  in  marble  palaces 
whose  steps  were  in  the  Ganges,  on  marble  terraces  vocal 
and  scented.  She  had  never  been  so  beautiful  before,  she 
was  quite  happy,  she  was  indisputably  the  belle  of  the 
winter,  she  had  several  proposals  under  the  most  romantic 
conditions  (carefully  arranged  by  herself),  and  she  was 
wholly  unable  to  fall  in  love. 

At  the  end  of  the  season  she  understood,  and  was  aghast. 
She  demanded  the  wholly  impossible  in  man,  a  man  that 
never  will  emerge  from  woman's  imagination  and  come  to 
life ;  a  man  without  common  weaknesses,  who  was  never 
absurd,  who  was  a  miracle  of  tenderness,  passion,  strength, 


288  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

humor,  justice,  high-mindedness,  magnetism,  intellect, 
cleverness,  wit,  sincerity,  mystery,  fidelity,  provocation, 
responsiveness,  reserve  ;  who  was  gay,  serious,  sympathetic, 
vital,  stimulating,  always  able  to  thrill,  and  never  to  bore ; 
a  being  of  light  with  no  clay  about  him,  who  wooed  like  a 
god,  and  never  looked  funny  when  his  feelings  overcame 
him,  and  never  perspired,  even  in  India. 

In  short,  Julia  packed  her  trunks  and  went  to  Benares 
to  study  Hindu  philosophy. 

But  although  she  was  not  long  finding  her  balance  (in 
which  humor  played  as  distinguished  a  part  as  her  learned 
masters),  she  never  wholly  ceased  to  be  haunted  by  the 
vision  of  the  perfect  lover  and  the  complete  happiness  he 
must  bestow  upon  a  woman  as  yet  not  all  intellect.  There 
were  times  when  she  sat  up  in  bed  at  night  exclaiming  aloud 
in  tones  of  indignation  and  surprise,  "  Where  is  my  husband  ? 
Mine  ?  He  must  exist  on  this  immense  earth.  Where  is 
he?" 

She  knew  that  other  women  of  humor  and  intellect,  Ish- 
bel,  for  instance,  had  ended  by  accepting  the  best  that  life 
purposed  to  offer  them,  and  been  quite  happy,  or  happy 
enough.  But  she  dared  make  no  such  experiment  with 
herself.  Genius  of  some  sort  she  had,  and  she  guessed  that 
geniuses  had  best  be  content  with  dreams  and  make  no  ex 
periments  with  mere  mortal  men.  She  knew  that  if  she 
exiled  herself  to  America,  or  the  continent  of  Eurppc,  with 
the  most  satisfactory  man  she  had  met  in  Calcutta,  or  even 
with  Nigel  Herbert,  she  ran  the  risk  of  hating  him  and  her 
self  before  the  honeymoon  was  out.  Nevertheless,  the 
woman  in  her  laughed  at  intellect  and  went  on  demanding 
and  dreaming. 

But  all  this  did  not  affect  her  will  nor  hinder  her  mental 
progress.  While  automatically  hoping,  she  was  hopeless, 
and  bent  all  her  energies  toward  accomplishing  that  ideal 
of  perfection  she  had  vaguely  outlined  the  night  at  White 
Lodge  when  once  more  settling  the  fate  of  Nigel.  Here  in 
Benares,  sitting  at  the  feet  of  men  that  appeared  to  live 
in  their  marvellous  intellects,  and  to  be  quite  purged  of 


HADJI   SADRA  289 

earthly  dross,  it  seemed  simple  enough  to  her  strong  will 
and  brain.  Of  mysteries  she  was  permitted  more  than  one 
glimpse.  She  felt  herself  drawing  from  unseen,  unfathom 
able  sources  a  vital  fluid  which  she  chose  to  believe  would 
in  time  restore  in  her  that  perfect  balance  of  sex  qualities, 
that  unity  in  the  ego,  which  had  been  the  birthright  of  the 
man-woman  who  rose  first  out  of  the  chaos  of  the  universe, 
who  was  happy  until  clove  in  half  and  sent  forth  to  wage 
the  eternal  war  of  sex,  even  while  striving  blindly  for  com 
pletion.  She  learned  that  in  former  solar  systems,  whose 
record  is  open  only  to  those  so  profoundly  versed  in  occult 
lore  that  their  disembodied  selves  read  at  will  the  invisible 
tablets,  that  chosen  women  had  attained  this  state  of  per 
fection,  of  absolute  knowledge,  of  original  sex,  and  with  it 
immortality.  Immortal  women.  Wonderful  and  haunt 
ing  phrase!  At  certain  periods  of  even  earth's  history, 
they  had  reappeared  in  human  form  to  accomplish  their 
great  and  individual  work.  But  their  number  so  far  had 
been  few,  and  they  were  easily  called  to  mind,  these  great 
women  that  stood  out  in  history ;  indispensable,  mysteri 
ously  powerful ;  disappearing  when  their  work  was  done, 
and  leaving  none  of  their  kind  behind  them. 

Julia's  favorite  teacher,  an  old  Sufi  Mohammedan  named 
Hadji  Sadra,  told  her  that  the  world,  the  Western  world 
particularly,  was  ripe  for  them  again,  that  now  their  num 
bers  would  be  many,  for  modern  conditions  made  their 
general  supremacy  possible  for  the  first  time  in  Earth's 
history.  There  was  no  movement  in  the  East  or  West  that 
this  old  philosopher  was  not  cognizant  of,  no  tendency,  no 
deep  persistent  stifled  mutter ;  and  although  he  had  all 
the  contempt  of  the  ancient  Oriental  brain  for  the  crude  at 
tempts  of  the  Occident  to  think  for  itself,  he  had  a  growing 
respect  for  Western  women,  and  told  Julia  that  all  conditions, 
both  in  the  heavens  and  on  the  earth  pointed  to  the  coming 
reign  of  woman  ;  led  in  the  first  place  by  those  reincarnated 
immortal  souls  of  whom  he  was  convinced  she  was  one, 
possibly  the  greatest.  So  he  interpreted  her  horoscope, 
laughing  at  the  narrow  wisdom  of  the  Western  mind  which 


290  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

could  see  naught  but  a  ridiculous  position  in  the  peerage 
of  Europe ;  the  starry  hieroglyphics  plainly  indicated  that 
she  was  to  rule  her  sex  and  lead  it  to  victory. 

All  this  was  highly  gratifying  to  Julia  (to  whom  would  it 
not  be  ?),  and  feeling  herself  destined  to  greatness,  found  its 
spiritual  part  simpler  of  achievement  than  if  the  suggesting 
had  been  lacking.  In  this  ideal  of  perfection  there  was  no 
question  of  eliminating  human  nature,  with  its  minor  en 
trancing  elements,  its  sympathy,  tenderness,  its  power  to 
love ;  merely  the  complete  control  of  a  highly  trained  mind 
over  the  baser  desires,  the  contemptible  faults,  the  foolish 
ambitions  and  temptations,  which  keep  the  average  mind  in 
a  state  of  bondage,  restless,  vaguely  aspiring,  always  dip 
ping,  and  never  happy.  Nevertheless,  love  could  be  but 
an  incident.  The  highest  ideal  was  to  stand  alone.  The 
greatest  attributes  of  the  masculine  and  female  mind  united 
in  one  mortal  brain,  the  ability  to  obliterate  the  world  at 
will  and  live  in  the  contemplation  of  knowledge,  the  irre 
sistible  power  which  comes  of  absolute  mastery  of  self  and 
of  living  in  self  alone,  —  unity  in  the  ego,  independence  of 
mortal  conditions  —  here  was  the  perfect  ideal  which  Julia 
was  bidden  to  attain,  which  few  but  Orientals  have  even 
formulated. 

On  this  high  flight  had  Julia  been  sustained  during  the 
following  years.  But,  sitting  in  her  gloomy,  chill  and  taste 
less  London  sitting-room,  she  looked  back  upon  it  as  a 
fool's  paradise,  and  felt  merely  a  dismal  traveller  in  a 
strange  city ;  but  recalling  a  threat  of  Hadji  Sadra,  dared 
not  send  for  the  man  she  still  liked  best  in  the  world. 


Ill 

NIGHT  came,  and  the  night  had  no  terrors  for  Julia.  Her 
Hindu  master  had  taught  her  the  science  of  relaxation,  and 
given  her  certain  powerful  suggestions,  one  being  that  she 
should  fall  asleep  within  half  an  hour  of  going  to  bed  and 
not  awaken  for  eight  hours. 

The  morning,  therefore,  found  her  refreshed;  and  al 
though  she  was  still  annoyed  at  the  discovery  that  she  had 
not  made  herself  over  once  for  all,  she  had  no  intention  of 
rocking  her  feminine  ego  in  her  arms  again  for  some  time 
to  come.  Another  lesson  she  had  learned  was  to  switch 
thought  off  and  on;  she  relegated  her  femaleness  to  the 
depths,  and  turned  her  attention  to  the  work  that  had 
drawn  her  to  England.  The  monthly  bulletins  with  which 
Mrs.  Herbert  had  remorselessly  pursued  her,  alone  would 
have  kept  her  informed  on  every  phase  of  the  Woman's 
War,  and  she  had  heard  somewhat  of  it  elsewhere.  She 
was  satisfied  that  in  this  new  and  menacing  demand  for  the 
ballot,  women  were  prompted  neither  by  vanity  nor  mere 
superfluous  energy,  but  by  an  experience  with  poverty 
which  had  taught  them  that  this  great  problem  was  their 
peculiar  province.  They  were  prepared  to  devote  their 
lives  to  its  solution,  to  court  sacrifices  such  as  man  had  never 
contemplated;  and  they  had  the  time,  the  instinct,  the 
practical  knowledge,  which  would  enable  them,  if  armed 
with  political  power,  to  solve  this  hideous  and  disgraceful 
problem  once  for  all. 

Julia  had  driven  through  a  famine  district  in  India  and 
fell  her  brain  wilher,  her  veins  freeze,  as  she  slared  al 
mile  after  mile  of  starving  skeletons,  lying  or  huddled  by 
the  roadside,  feebly  begging  with  eyes  thai  seemed  lo  ac 
cuse  Ihe  Almighty  for  multiplying  ihe  superfluous  of  earth. 
What  lo  do  for  Ihesc  wrelches,  dying  by  ihe  million,  she 

291 


292  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

had  no  more  idea  than  Great  Britain  herself ;  but  if  it  was 
beyond  human  power  to  grapple  with  the  question  of  starv 
ing  millions  in  a  season  of  drought  in  India,  so  much  the 
more  reason  to  attack  the  less  desperate  but  no  less  abom 
inable  question  in  a  land  where  the  poor  were  the  result  of 
the  callousness  of  man.  In  dealing  with  this  complicated 
problem  many  lessons  would  be  learned  that  might  later 
be  applied  to  poverty  on  the  grand  scale. 

The  ballot,  therefore,  was  but  a  means  to  an  end,  and  to 
assist  in  winning  it  she  had  returned ;  meaning  to  devote 
to  it  all  her  time,  her  energies,  and  her  talents.  But  must 
she  join  this  new  ''militant  movement"?  She  frowned 
with  distaste.  As  to  many  at  that  date,  it  seemed  both 
foolish  and  vulgar.  Moreover,  like  all  fastidious  women 
that  wish  for  fame,  she  shrank  from  notoriety,  from  figur 
ing  in  any  sort  of  public  mess.  However  !  She  should 
soon  be  given  her  role,  and  whatever  it  might  be,  she  was 
resolved  to  play  it  to  a  finish,  and  without  protest. 

Meanwhile  she  was  eating  her  breakfast,  the  one  appe 
tizing  meal  in  England,  and  when  she  was  further  refreshed, 
she  opened  the  newspaper  on  the  tray,  remembering  the 
disaster  in  San  Francisco.  The  news  was  more  encouraging. 
The  city  was  still  burning,  but  the  loss  of  life  had  been  com 
paratively  small,  and  the  inhabitants  were  either  escaping 
in  droves  to  the  towns  across  the  bay  or  camping  on  the 
hills  behind  San  Francisco.  Once  more  Julia's  thoughts 
flew  to  Daniel  Tay,  and  she  conceived  the  idea  of  writing 
to  him.  Surely  an  old  friend  could  do  no  less,  and  now 
if  ever  he  would  be  grateful  for  remembrance. 

Therefore,  as  soon  as  she  was  dressed,  she  went  to  the 
desk  in  the  drawing-room  and  committed  the  most  mo 
mentous  act  of  her  life.  She  wrote  to  Tay  a  long  and  lively 
letter,  full  of  feminine  sympathy,  of  concern  for  his  welfare 
and  for  that  of  his  city.  There  were  many  allusions  to  their 
brief  but  unforgotten  friendship  (she  had  almost  forgotten 
it !),  references  to  his  boyish  sympathy,  and  assurances  that 
she  was  now  well,  happy,  free,  and  full  of  interest  in  life. 
"Do  write  to  me,"  she  concluded.  "That  is,  if  you  ever 


HADJI   SADRA  293 

receive  this ;  and  tell  me  all  about  your  life  in  the  past  ten 
years.  Did  you  go  on  your  ten-thousand-dollar  spree  ? 
Have  you  made  your  great  fortune?  Are  you  ruling  the 
destinies  of  your  city  ?  I  have  always  felt  sure  you  would 
never  stop  at  being  merely  a  rich  man.  And  Mrs.  Bode  ? 
And  Ella  ?  "  (alas  !)  "  I  do  hope  they  have  not  suffered  too 
much  in  this  terrible  disaster.  If  you  like,  if  you  have  not 
wholly  forgotten  me  all  these  years,  I'll  write  you  of  my 
life  in  the  East  these  past  four,  and  much  else.  I  remember 
how  freely  I  used  to  talk  to  you,  dear  little  boy  that  you 
were,  and  I  don't  think  I  have  ever  talked  so  freely  to  any 
one  else.  It  would  be  rather  exciting  to  correspond  with 
you.  But  if  you  have  quite  lost  interest  in  me,  at  least  re 
member  that  I  have  not  in  you,  —  no  !  not  for  one  mo 
ment  —  and  long  to  hear  how  you  have  weathered  this 
frightful  calamity." 

Now,  why  do  women  lie  like  that  ?  Julia  was  as  truthful 
as  any  mortal  who  is  a  component  part  of  that  complicated 
organism  known  as  society  may  be,  but  she  wrote  these 
lines  without  flinching,  quite  persuaded  for  the  moment, 
indeed,  that  she  meant  every  word  of  them.  Perhaps  here 
lies  the  explanation,  in  so  much  as  all  memories  are  alive 
in  the  subconsciousness,  and  leap  to  the  mind  the  instant 
their  slumbers  are  disturbed  by  the  essential  vibration ; 
there  to  assume  full  and  dazzling  control.  Let  it  go  at  that. 

Julia,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  looked  somewhat  dubiously 
at  the  last  paragraph  of  her  letter.  It  was  not  in  the  least 
Oriental.  She  was  also  astonished  at  the  length  of  the  letter 
itself.  She  had  long  since  discovered,  however,  that  there 
are  seme  people  to  whom  one  can  write,  and  many  more  to 
whom  one  cannot.  Oddly  enough  Nigel  Herbert  was  of 
the  last.  He  wrote  a  colorless  letter  himself,  never  striking 
that  spark  which  fires  the  epistolary  ardor ;  but  Julia  re 
flected  that  she  could  write  for  hours  on  end  to  Daniel  Tay  ; 
she  felt  as  if  embarked  on  some  vital  current  which  leaped 
direct  from  London  to  San  Francisco,  no  less  than  seven 
thousand  miles.  She  sealed  the  letter. 

Then  she  discovered  that  the  sun  was  out  and  remcm- 


294  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

bered  that  she  had  an  aunt.  Her  feelings  for  her  only 
relative  in  England  were  not  of  unmixed  cordiality,  but  it 
would  be  something  at  least  to  bask  for  a  little  in  the  pres 
ence  of  one  so  entirely  satisfied  with  herself.  Moreover, 
she  wanted  news  of  her  mother ;  and  this  duty  was  inevit 
able  in  any  case. 

She  determined  to  walk  the  short  distance  to  Tilney 
Street  as  she  wished  to  post  the  letter  herself.  Still  exhil 
arated  at  the  writing  of  it,  she  ignored  the  mud  of  the  streets, 
sniffed  the  old  familiar  grimy  air,  with  some  abatement  of 
nostalgia  for  the  East,  and  even  found  amusement  in  the 
windows  of  Bond  Street. 

When  she  came  to  the  first  pillar  box  and  applied  her 
letter  to  its  yawning  mouth,  she  paused  suddenly,  assailed 
by  one  of  those  subtle  feminine  presentiments  which  her 
long  residence  in  the  Orient  had  not  taught  her  to  despise. 
She  withdrew  the  letter  and  \valked  on,  smiling,  but  dis 
turbed.  She  even  passed  two  more  boxes,  but  at  the  fourth 
shot  the  letter  in.  Her  planets  had  long  since  made  a 
fatalist  of  her,  more  or  less.  And  she  had  adventurous 
blood. 

She  found  Mrs.  Winstone  risen,  groomed,  coifed,  with 
even  her  smile  on,  and  seated  before  her. desk  in  the  front  ell 
of  the  drawing-room,  answering  notes  and  cards  of  invita 
tion. 

"Ah,  Julia  !"  she  said  casually,  as  she  rose  and  offered 
her  cheek.  "Home  again  ?  How  nice.  But  that  coat  and 
skirt,  my  dear  !  Quite  old  style." 

"Rather!"  said  Julia,  making  herself  comfortable.  "I 
took  them  out  with  me.  Who's  your  tailor  now?" 

"Oh,  a  new  man.  A  duck.  I'll  take  you  to  him  this 
afternoon.  Just  left  one  of  the  big  houses,  so  his  prices 
are  quite  possible  —  at  present.  Glad  you've  kept  your 
complexion.  How  is  it  you  don't  sunburn  ?  " 

"I  don't  fancy  people  born  in  the  tropics  ever  do.  Glad 
you  haven't  grown  fat." 

"I'd  put  on  a  bit  if  it  weren't  the  fashion  to  look  like  a 
plank  back  and  front.  I've  got  to  the  age  where  I'd  look 


HADJI   SADRA  2gs 

better  filled  out.     'Fraid  I'm  really  gettin'  on.     Beaux  are 
younger  every  year." 

"You  look  quite  unchanged  to  me,"  said  Julia,  politely 
"How's  the  duke?" 

"Quite  fit,  I  believe.  They're  still  at  Bosquith.  Mar 
garet  broke  her  leg  huntinV 

"Have  you  heard  from  my  mother  lately?  I  have  not, 
for^ several  months.  I  had  hoped  to  find  a  letter  here." 

"I  got  her  usual  quarterly  page  the  other  day.  She 
seems  well  enough.  I've  been  to  Nevis  since  you  left. 
Nerves  got  rackety,  and  the  doctor  told  me  to  go  where  I'd 
really  be  quiet.  I  was  !  But  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  I  went 
again  some  day.  Never  looked  so  well  in  my  life  as  when 
I  came  back.  Simply  vegetated." 

'And  how  does  my  mother  look?  I  cannot  imagine 
her  changed  —  but  —  it  is  a  good  many  years  !" 

"She  looks  exactly  the  same.     Ain't    you  ever  goin' 

'Not  until  she  sends  for  me.  I  can't  help  feeling  that 
she  doesn't  want  me,  —  prefers  not  to  be  actively  reminded 
of  the  last  and  most  tragic  disappointment  of  her  life.  I 
sometimes  wonder  that  she  writes  to  me.  Her  letters  are 
even  briefer  than  those  to  you." 

"Perhaps  you  are  right.     She  hasn't  forgiven  you  —  or 

herself.     I  tried  to  tell  her  some  of  your  charmin'  experi- 

5  with  Harold,  —  there  was  so  little  to  talk  about,  I 

thought  it  might  be  interestin'  to  see  how  she  took  it, --but 

she  wouldn't  listen  !" 

"Poor  mother!  What  a  life!  I  wonder  if  she  would 
let  mi-  have  Fanny?" 

"Fanny?" 

"Yes,  I  am  quite  alone,  you  know.  I  could  do  for  her 
nicely,  and  it  would  almost  be  like  having  a  child  of  my 
own." 

"I  detest  Fanny,"  said  Mrs.  Winstone,  with  some  show 
of  human  emotion.  "She's  a  minx.  Jane  will  have  her 
hands  full  three  or  four  years  from  now." 

"She  was  such  a  dear  little  thing." 


296  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

"Well,  she's  a  little  devil  now.  I  don't  say  she  mightn't 
be  halfway  decent  if  she'd  led  a  life  like  other  children,  but 
she's  never  played  with  a  white  child,  and  rules  those  pic'- 
nies  like  a  she-dragon  —  she's  not  too  unlike  Jane  in  some 
things.  Her  only  companion  is  a  washed-out  middle-aged 
governess,  who  might  as  well  try  to  manage  a  hurricane. 
Jane  vows  she  shall  never  marry.  Her  mistake  in  France 
seems  to  have  fixed  her  hatred  of  man  once  for  all,  and  al 
though  Fanny  bores  her,  she's  of  no  two  minds  as  to  her  duty 
toward  the  brat.  She.  is  never  to  meet  a  young  man  of  her 
own  class,  if  you  please,  and  as  soon  as  she  is  old  enough  is 
to  be  trained  in  all  the  duties  relating  to  the  estate.  Nice 
time  Jane'll  have  preventin'  Fanny  meetin'  men  if  only  one 
sets  foot  on  the  island ;  and  there's  talk  of  rebuildin'  Bath 
House.  She's  overcharged  with  vitality,  that  child,  she's 
a  will  of  iron,  and  she's  already  an  adept  at  deceivin'  her 
grandmother  —  no  mean  accomplishment !  And  she'll  get 
worse  instead  of  better  in  that  ghastly  life.  I  wouldn't 
trust  her  across  the  street  three  years  from  now." 

"Oh,  the  poor  little  thing!  She  must  be  rescued. 
Surely  if  my  mother  doesn't  care  for  her  she'll  be  the  more 
willing  to  give  her  up.  But  she  must,  a  little.  She  was 
strict  with  me,  but  always  kind  and  even  affectionate." 

"She's  not  to  Fanny.  She  looks  upon  her  as  a  plague; 
and  with  good  reason,  for  a  noisier  or  more  messy  child  I 
never  saw.  But  she'll  do  her  duty  as  she  sees  it." 

"I  believe  Fanny  is  really  adorable.  I  shall  write  at 
once  and  beg  for  her." 

"You  won't  get  her,  and  you  needn't  regret  it.  I'm  no 
fool  where  my  sex  is  concerned :  Fanny's  the  sort  that's 
put  into  the  world  to  make  trouble.  What  are  your 
plans?  Shall  you  take  a  flat  in  town?" 

"It  will  depend."  Julia  paused  a  moment  and  then 
hurled  her  bomb.  "I've  come  back  to  enroll  in  the 
Woman's  War." 

"What?"  Mrs.  Winstone  looked  about  to  faint;  then 
her  expression  became  stony.  "  Why,  women  are  disgracin' 
their  sex,  makin'  perfect  fools  of  themselves!  Bridgit 


HADJI   SADRA  297 

Herbert  must  have  gone  mad.  All  her  friends  will  cut 
her.  A  woman  of  her  class  fightin'  men  and  sleepin'  in 
prison!  She  deserved  all  she  got,  and  so  will  you  if  you've 
anything  to  do  with  these  tatterdermalion  females  shriekin' 
for  notoriety.  That's  all  they're  after.  Forcin'  their  way 
into  the  House  of  Commons  !  No  wonder  the  men  are 
disgusted.  It's  a  middle-class  movement,  anyhow.  You  ! 
That's  the  reason,  I  suppose.,  you  don't  mind  wearin'  a 
coat  and  skirt  four  years  old." 

"Oh,  but  I  do  mind!  I  hope  you'll  take  me  to  your 
tailor  this  very  day." 

"There!  I  knew  you  were  jokin'.  I  should  simply 
retire  if  I  had  a  suffragette  in  the  family.  Come  down  to 
luncheon  and  then  we'll  go  out  and  shop." 


IV 

DURING  the  early  weeks  of  this  same  year,  Christabel 
Pankhurst  had  established  in  London  a  branch  of  the 
Woman's  Social  and  Political  Union  founded  in  Man 
chester  in  1903  by  Mrs.  Pankhurst.  The  rooms  were  in 
Park  Walk,  Chelsea,  and  here  were  the  headquarters  of 
that  "Militant  Movement"  so  execrated  by  the  National 
Union  of  Woman's  Suffrage  Societies,  and  by  Society  in 
general.  Their  numbers  were  few,  their  funds  were  almost 
nil,  their  years,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  absurdly  young, 
they  were  thrown  entirely  upon  one  another  for  sympathy 
and  approval,  a  goodly  proportion  had  already  been 
severely  pummelled  by  men  twice  their  size,  and  in  the 
proportion  of  three  or  more  to  one,  and  several  were  still 
in  hospital,  injured,  perhaps  for  life.  But  they  had  made 
all  England  talk  about  them,  and  a  few,  a  very  few, 
farsighted  men  had  apprehended  them  as  a  definite 
and  permanent  factor  in  the  politics  of  the  twentieth 
century. 

Of  these  was  Nigel  Herbert,  and  it  was  from  him  that 
Julia  learned  all  that  she  did  not  know  already  of  their 
history.  Bridgit  had  sent  her  clippings  from  newspapers 
containing  references  to  the  opening  of  the  campaign  by 
Miss  Pankhurst  and  Annie  Kenny,  at  the  first  great  Liberal 
meeting  of  the  General  Election  in  October,  which  resulted 
in  their  arrest  and  imprisonment.  At  Acca  she  had  heard 
the  movement  discussed  by  English  pilgrims ;  and  in  Eng 
lish  newspapers,  read  in  continental  reading-rooms,  she 
had  come  across  many  comments  —  indignant,  sarcastic, 
infuriate  —  upon  the  performances  of  these  outrageous 
females.  But  from  Bridgit  she  had  not  heard  since  a  few 
days  before  that  lady's  own  battle  royal,  and  it  was  to 
Nigel  that  she  turned  for  unimpassioned  information.  He 

298 


HADJI   SADRA  299 

had  told  her  something  in  the  train,  and  he  gave  a  concise 
history  of  the  new  movement  as  soon  as  he  was  permitted 
once  more  to  sun  himself  in  her  presence. 

"They're  here  to  stay,"  he'said.  "I  know  six  or  eight  of 
them  personally ;  been  making  a  study  of  them,  although 
they  don't  know  it.  They're  like  no  other  women  under 
the  sun  —  nor  any  sun  that  has  ever  shone.  They've  a 
new  group  of  brain  cells,  and  something  new  and  big  is 
coming  out  of  it.  The  only  historical  analogy  I  know  of 
is  those  old  martyrs  that  died  in  the  cause  of  some  new 
departure  in  religion ;  those  that  make  such  excellent  sub 
jects  for  stained-glass  windows.  They've  got  the  same 
look  those  old  leader-martyrs  had  when  chained  up  to  the 
stake  and  waiting  for  the  faggot.  The  same  grim  patient 
mouths,  the  same  clairvoyant  eyes,  as  if  looking  straight 
at  the  unborn  millions  liberated  by  the  martyrdom  of  the 
few.  Their  enthusiasm  is  cold  —  and  eternal.  They  are 
as  deliberate  as  death.  There  are  no  better  brains  in  the 
world.  Precious  few  as  good.  They  never  take  a  step 
that  isn't  calculated  beforehand,  and  they  never  take  a 
step  backward.  Discouragement  and  fear  are  sensations 
they  have  never  experienced.  When  they  are  hurt  they 
don't  know  it.  They  fear  injury  or  death  no  more  than 
they  fear  the  brutes  that  maul  them.  In  short,  they're 
a  new  force  let  loose  into  the  world ;  and  the  geese  outside 
put  them  down  as  hysterical  females.  But  if  this  silly 
old  world  had  always  been  quick  to  see  and  wise  to  act  we'd 
have  no  history.  So  there  you  are." 

And  the  next  day  Julia  accepted  this  estimate  without 
reserve.  Having  introduced  herself  at  headquarters,  regis 
tered,  and  paid  her  dues,  she  sat  for  a  time  listening  to  a 
quick  incisive  debate  upon  all  steps  to  be  taken  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  on  the  night  of  the  25th,  in  case 
the  Woman's  Suffrage  Resolution,  for  which  Mr.  Kier 
Harclie  had  secured  a  place,  should  be  talked  out  by  its 
enemies. 

After  a  time  Julia  forgot  to  listen,  being  quite  convinced 
that  they  would  act  as  they  purposed  to  act,  and  make  no 


300  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

misstep.  Their  looks  interested  her  far  more  than  their 
words.  With  possibly  two  exceptions,  whose  flesh  gave 
them  a  superficially  conventional  appearance,  they  did  not 
look  like  women  at  all.  They  looked  pure  brain,  sexless, 
selfless,  ruthless.  Most  of  them  had  as  little  flesh  as  it  is 
possible  to  carry  and  live,  as  if  Nature  herself  had  sent 
them  into  the  world  trained  and  hardened  for  fight  and  for 
no  other  purpose  whatever.  Julia  saw  not  the  slightest 
evidence  of  personal  ambition  in  those  grim  set  faces,  with 
eyes  that  were  preternaturally  keen  in  debate,  and,  to  uss 
Nigel's  word,  clairvoyant  in  repose;  merely  that  stern 
inflexible  purpose  which  has  been  the  equipment  of  martyrs 
since  Society  emerged  out  of  chaos;  but  directed  by  a 
mental  power,  a  modern  balance,  that  saved  them  from  the 
stupidities  of  fanaticism.  That  they  were  ready  to  go  to 
the  stake,  or  the  hangman,  she  did  not  doubt,  and  it  was 
possible  that  some  of  them  would,  unless  the  enemy  came 
to  its  senses  in  time;  but  that  they  would  fail  in  their 
purpose  ultimately  was  as  unthinkable  as  that  they  would 
ever  lay  down  their  arms.  Truly  a  new  force  unleashed. 
Were  these  the  immortal  women  ? 

Julia  felt  thrilled,  exalted.  All  the  iron  in  her  nature, 
a  gift  of  inheritance  which  had  saved  her  from  degradation 
and  melancholy  and  the  common  foolishness  of  women ; 
which,  in  a  word,  had  made  her  stronger  than  life,  rose 
from  its  long  sleep  and  exulted.  Here  was  a  career,  and 
here  were  associates  worth  while.  The  cause  of  woman 
in  the  abstract  had  left  her  cold,  but  when  she  realized  the 
immense  brain  power,  the  unqualified  courage,  the  un- 
human  endurance,  imperative  to  put  the  right  sort  of  new 
life  into  a  great  but  long  moribund  cause,  and  sweep  it  to 
a  triumphant  finish,  she  felt  on  fire  with  enthusiasm ; 
the  abilities  she  had  so  long  played  with  crystallized  sud 
denly  and  leapt  at  their  opportunity.  Some  day  she  should 
command  these  women,  or  their  successors,  and  to  do  that 
would  be  as  great  a  feat  as  to  lead  them  to  victory.  She 
was  more  than  willing  to  consecrate  her  personal  ambition 
to  the  future  of  her  sex,  but  that  she  never  could  lose  sight 


HADJI  SADRA  301 

of  it  would  but  give  her  an  additional  power.  She  could 
become  as  grim,  as  relentless,  as  indomitable  as  they,  but 
she  doubted  she  could  ever  be  as  selfless,  or  if  she  wished 
to  be.  For  a  moment  she  envied  as  much  as  she  admired 
them,  but  the  personality  she  once  had  believed  murdered 
by  her  husband  had  long  since  revived  with  a  double 
vitality,  and  the  time  was  not  yet  when  it  could  dissolve 
in  the  crucible  of  a  cause. 

When  the  meeting  broke  up  she  asked  to  be  given  active 
work  Jo  do,  being  well  aware  that  one  must  serve  before 
fit  to  command.  They  had  been  taught  to  expect  her  by 
Mrs.  Herbert,  and  her  offer  of  service  as  well  as  her  donation 
was  thankfully  accepted.  One  of  their  number  was  told 
off  to  instruct  her,  and  she  was  ordered  to  hold  herself  in 
readiness  to  go  to  the  Midlands  and  take  part  in  a  by- 
election,  working  to  defeat  the  liberal  candidate  if  he  per 
sisted  in  his  attitude  of  hostility  to  woman's  demand 
for  the  vote.  She  and  her  present  instructor,  Mrs. 
Lime,  should  heckle  him  when  he  spoke,  canvass, 
distribute  suffrage  literature,  and  speak  against  him  in  the 
market-place,  or  at  any  corner  where  they  could  gather  a 
crowd. 

The  latter  part  of  the  program  was  by  no  means  to 
Julia's  taste,  but  she  had  made  up  her  mind  to  obey  orders, 
and  she  took  them  in  the  same  matter-of-fact  fashion  in 
which  they  were  delivered.  Mentally,  she  shrugged  her 
shoulders.  If  these  women  could  stand  it,  she  could. 
There  was  not  a  coarse,  a  vulgar,  a  hard  face  among  them. 
And  should  she  not  exult  in  the  prospect  of  a  stirring 
career,  the  constant  outlet  for  her  energies,  the  lethe  for 
her  womanhood  ?  The  more  adventurous  the  details,  the 
better ! 

"She  looks  like  Lady  Macbeth,"  said  one  of  the  girls  as 
Julia  departed  with  an  armful  of  literature,  and  accom 
panied  by  Mrs.  Lime.  "Cool,  calculating,  ambitious, 
intellectual,  unscrupulous  in  the  grand  manner." 

"H'm,"  said  another,  dubiously.  "Lady  Macbeth  had 
her  weaknesses,  and  lost  her  mind,  —  something  Mrs.  France 


302  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

must  retain  if  she  is  to  be  as  useful  to  this  cause  as  Mrs. 
Herbert  and  Lady  Dark  would  have  us  believe." 

"Lady  Macbeth  up  to  date,  then.  The  original  was 
shut  up  in  a  castle  with  too  few  interests  and  opportuni 
ties;  nothing  to  distract  her  mind.  And  remember  she 
accomplished  her  purpose  first." 


IF  one  will  dig  deeply  enough  into  the  psychology  of 
those  great  enthusiasms  which  have  altered  the  course  of 
history,  one  will  generally  discover  some  personal,  over 
laid,  self- forgotten  motive  which  bred  the  martyrs  and 
kindled  the  leaders  necessary  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the 
world,  and  make  the  vast  number  of  converts  essential  to 
give  any  cause  dignity  and  insure  to  it  victory.  It  may 
be  an  acute  disappointment  in  human  nature,  some  assault 
upon  highest  instincts  or  treasured  convictions,  or  even 
disappointed  ambition  ;  but  above  all  is  it  likely  to  have  its 
seed  in  that  burning  hatred  of  injustice  which  animates  all 
minds  with  a  natural  bias  for  reform.  The  Prophets  may 
have  been  inspired  and  preordained,  but  leaders  and 
martyrs  hardly,  although  they  are  entitled  to  the  first 
rank  in  the  history  of  the  Great  Causes. 

With  Bridgit  Herbert  it  had  been  not  only  the  profound 
reaction  of  a  fine  mind  from  the  empty  life  of  society,  but 
the  bitter  recognition  that  she  had  lavished  the  wealth  of 
her  nature  on  a  handsome  fool,  who  laughed  and  kissed  her 
when  her  ego  struggled  out  of  its  embryo  and  looked  for 
wings  on  his.  Then  had  come  the  amazing  discovery  that 
the  men  she  most  liked,  of  whose  friendly  devotion  she  had 
felt  assured,  had  no  possible  use  for  her  when  they  found 
that  she  purposed  to  console  herself  with  her  intellect 
instead  of  with  themselves ;  that  so  slight  was  the  impres 
sion  the  greatness  in  her  nature  had  made  on  them,  they 
would  be  the  first  to  balk  her  on  every  issue  she  held  most 
dear.  Her  vanity  soon  healed,  but  she  had  been  cut  to 
the  quick;  and  all  the  obstinacy,  scorn,  and  strength  in 
her  arose,  and  counselled  her  to  pay  back  to  man  some 
thing  of  what  woman  had  suffered  at  his  hand  throughout 
the  ages. 

303 


304  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

It  is  possible  that  if  Christabel  Pankhurst,  bred  on  suf 
frage  as  she  was,  had  not  been  refused  admission  to  the 
Bar  when  she  applied  to  the  Benchers  of  Lincoln's  Inn 
Fields,  she  might  not  have  conceived  the  Militant  Move 
ment  at  the  psychological  moment.  Julia  needed  no 
further  inducement  to  enter  the  career  she  once  for  all 
-elected  to  follow  that  afternoon  in  Chelsea,  but  she,  too, 
needed  the  sharp  personal  jolt  to  banish  the  abstract,  and 
substitute  the  concrete  enthusiasm;  and  she  got  it  long 
before  her  impersonal  ardor  had  time  to  cool. 

Ten  days  after  she  had  received  her  first  instructions,  she 
arrived  with  Mrs.  Lime  in  the  Midland  town  where  the 
by-election  campaign  was  to  open.  Mrs.  Lime  was  an 
experienced  heckler,  and  was  already  aquainted  with  the 
inside  of  prison  and  gaol,  but  unknown  in  the  Midlands. 
Julia  had  found  much  inspiration  in  Mrs.  Lime,  a  typical 
product  of  that  awakening  which  began  in  1901.  Her  small 
body  looked  as  if  it  might  have  an  unbreakable  skeleton  of 
steel,  and  her  gaunt,  dark,  rapt  face  was  deeply  lined, 
although  she  was  but  twenty-four.  Like  Annie  Kenny, 
she  had  been  a  half-timer  at  the  loom  at  the  age  of  ten, 
and  had  worked  in  the  cotton  mill  until  she  married  a 
plumber  eight  years  later.  Her  husband  died  when  she 
was  twenty-two,  and  she  was  using  his  savings  in  the  cause 
which  she  knew  to  be  the  one  hope  for  thousands  of  girls, 
overworked  and  underfed,  as  she  had  been.  In  her  early 
youth  she  had  managed,  against  desperate  odds,  to  acquire 
an  education  of  sorts,  and  her  speeches  were  remarkably 
effective;  terse,  logical,  and  informing.  Once  she  would 
have  worshipped  the  luminous  beauty  of  this  new  recruit, 
but  now  she  merely  regarded  it  as  a  practical  asset. 

"Don't  let  yourself  run  down,"  she  said  to  Julia  as  they 
sat  in  their  hotel  the  night  before  the  opening  of  the  cam 
paign,  discussing  their  own.  "Keep  that  hair  bright, 
and  wear  your  good  clothes,  as  long  as  you've  got  them. 
Our  ladies  think  too  little  about  clothes,  and  its  natural, 
being  at  this  business  all  their  lives,  as  you  might  say.  But 
with  you  it's  different.  You've  got  the  born  style,  and 


HADJI   SADRA  305 

you'd  have  hard  work  looking  dingy.  Don't  try.  You've 
got  just  the  air  and  the  beauty  to  attract  the  crowd  at  the 
street  corner,  although  you'll  soon  be  too  familiar  a  figure 
to  the  police  to  get  past  the  door.  But  ugly  little  things 
like  me  can  do  the  heckling." 

The  Liberal  candidate  made  his  first  speech  on  the  fol 
lowing  night,  but  neither  Julia  nor  Mrs.  Lime  found  it 
possible  to  enter  the  hall.  Men  were  learning  wisdom. 
All  women  without  cards  or  escorts  were  barred.  Both 
the  girls  were  roughly  handled  as  they  attempted  again 
and  again  to  obtain  entrance;  and  as  there  was  no  crowd 
outside  to  address,  they  went  back  to  the  hotel  to  await  the 
candidate's  return.  They  sat  in  the  passage,  and  when  he 
came  in,  shortly  after  eleven  o'clock,  Mrs.  Lime  immedi 
ately  confronted  him. 

"You  will  tell  us,  if  you  please,"  she  said,  "what  you 
mean  to  do  about  giving  the  ballot  to  women." 

The  candidate,  who  had  congratulated  himself  upon 
accomplishing  the  exclusion  of  suffragettes  from  the  hall, 
and  had  even  taken  the  precaution  to  leave  by  the  back 
door,  colored  with  annoyance ;  and  his  eyes  flashed  con 
tempt  upon  the  plain  little  figure  planted  in  his  path. 

"I  state  my  intentions  on  the  platform,"  he  said 
haughtily,  and  attempted  to  brush  past  her.  But  Mrs. 
Lime  changed  her  own  position  and  once  more  impeded  his 
progress. 

"Your  intentions  regarding  votes  for  women,"  she  said 
in  her  even  emotionless  voice.  "You  are  said  to  oppose 
it.  I  warn  you  that  unless  you  assert  that  this  is  not  true, 
and  that  you  will  do  all  in  your  power  to  assist  us  in  winning 
the  ballot,  we  shall  do  all  we  can  to  defeat  you  in  this  elec 
tion." 

"We?"  He  laughed  outright.  "How  many  more  of 
them  are  there  like  you?" 

Julia  rose  and  came  forward.  "Two,"  she  said.  "And 
two  against  one  is  a  proportion  never  to  be  despised." 

The  man  stared  at  her  and  his  overbearing  manner 
underwent  a  change. 


306  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"Oh,  you!"  he  said.  "Well  you  might  get  something 
out  of  a  man  if  you  tried  hard  enough." 

France  had  more  than  once  burst  out  that  his  wife  had 
the  north  pole  in  her  eyes,  that  it  was  a  waste  of  time  to 
look  for  it  anywhere  else ;  and  the  frozen  stare  which  this 
candidate  received  dashed  his  mounting  ardor.  He 
frowned  heavily.  "I  say!"  he  said.  "Get  out  of  this. 
It's  no  business  for  you." 

"Since  when  have  politics  ceased  to  be  the  business  of 
English  women?  You  will  declare  for  us  publicly  and 
unmistakably,  or  I  shall  make  it  my  business  to  defeat  you." 

He  stared  at  her  again,  this  time  in  some  dismay.  He 
had  yet  to  learn  the  power  of  women  in  general,  when 
possessed  of  the  brain  and  courage  and  holy  fervor  that  are 
no  mean  substitutes  for  beauty  and  family,  but  he  well 
knew  the  power  that  women  of  the  class  to  which  this 
antagonist  belonged  had  wielded  in  the  political  history  of 
England.  For  a  moment  he  hesitated.  What  was  a 
promise  to  a  woman?  And  it  would  be  safe  to  get  rid  of 
this  woman  as  quickly  as  possible.  The  other,  of  course, 
didn't  matter.  But  he  was  an  honest  man  in  politics, 
whatever  his  other  failings,  and  he  would  as  soon  have 
given  the  vote  to  the  devil  as  to  women.  He  turned 
on  his  heel. 

"Do  your  worst,"  he  said.  "That's  all  you'll  get  out 
of  me."' 

The  next  day  Julia  hired  a  motor  car,  and  they  pursued 
the  candidate  from  town  to  town  and  village  to  village. 
He  was  contesting  a  large  borough,  whose  member,  returned 
at  the  general  election,  had  died  suddenly.  It  contained 
several  towns  and  many  villages.  In  the  latter,  Julia  and 
Mrs.  Lime  visited  every  cottage,  petted  the  children,  dis 
tributed  their  literature,  promised  all  they  conscientiously 
could  if  the  ballot  were  given  to  women,  and  implored  help 
in  defeating  a  man  who  was  an  avowed  enemy.  They 
converted  most  of  the  women,  and  made  no  little  impres 
sion  on  the  men,  most  of  them  colliers,  who  gathered  about 
their  car  in  the  evenings.  The  car  impressed  the  men 


HADJI   SADRA  307 

almost  as  much  as  the  eloquence  of  the  speakers.  Their 
thick  heads,  generally  thicker  at  eight  in  the  evening,  were 
as  impervious  to  female  suffrage  as  the  heads  at  West 
minster,  but  Julia  and  Mrs.  Lime  had  borrowed  all  the 
arguments  of  the  Conservative  candidate  and  used  them 
with  no  less  eloquence,  and  the  more  penetrating  ingenuity 
of  their  sex. 

At  every  hall  they  were  refused  admittance.  Julia  soon 
grew  accustomed  to  being  pulled  about;  her  arms  were 
black  and  blue;  and  she  had  twice  been  obliged  to  invest 
in  new  hats  both  for  herself  and  Mrs.  Lime.  Her  diffi 
dence  had  vanished,  and,  her  fighting  blood  up,  and  now 
completely  interested,  she  spoke  whenever  the  opportunity 
offered. 

One  dark  night,  when  they  had  had  the  usual  experience 
at  the  hall  entrance,  they  were  prowling  about  hoping 
to  find  an  unguarded  door,  when  they  espied  a  scaffolding 
under  one  of  the  high  windows.  It  was  elevated  on  a 
rough  trestle.  The  same  idea  animated  them  simul 
taneously.  Without  a  word  they  climbed  the  precarious 
foothold,  tearing  their  skirts,  and  splintering  their  hands, 
and  felt  their  way  along  the  scaffolding  until  they  were 
close  to  the  window.  Then  they  unrolled  their  white 
banners  inscribed  "Votes  for  Women,"  and  waited.  The 
candidate,  who  possessed  the  inestimable  advantage  of 
belonging  to  the  party  just  come  into  power,  was  lauding 
its  virtues,  promising  all  things  in  its  name,  and  reiterating 
the  abominations,  now  somewhat  stale,  of  the  party  that 
was  responsible  for  the  colossal  war  taxes,  and  the  industrial 
depression.  There  were  pertinent  questions  asked,  which  he 
answered  good-naturedly ;  for  although  he  would  fain  have 
gone  through  his  carefully  rehearsed  speech  uninterrupted, 
he  was  far  too  keen  a  politician  to  insult  a  voter. 

"Now!"  whispered  Mrs.  Lime,  and  simultaneously  two 
heads  appeared  at  the  window,  two  banners  were  waved, 
and  Julia,  having  the  more  carrying  voice,  cried  out:  — 

"And  how  about  Votes  for  Women?" 

If  a  flaming  sword  had  appeared,  there  could  not  have 


308  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

been  more  excitement.  The  candidate  turned  purple. 
The  chairman  jumped  to  his  feet,  crying  ''outrageous," 
and  the  audience  took  up  the  word  and  shouted  it,  some 
shaking  their  fists.  Several  men  ran  down  the  aisle. 

"The  stewards!"  whispered  Mrs.  Lime,  "and  they'll 
be  joined  by  the  door  police." 

It  was  darker  than  ever  without,  after  the  glare  of  the 
hall,  but  once  more  they  felt  their  way  along  the  scaffold 
ing,  reached  the  uprights,  and  clambered  down  just  as  a 
dark  mass  turned  the  corner  of  the  building. 

There  was  no  time  to  cross  the  street.  Mrs.  Lime  seized 
Julia's  hand  and  darted  under  the  trestle.  "Lie  down 
with  your  face  to  the  wall,  and  close,"  she  commanded. 

Their  clothes  were  dark  and  they  were  unobserved  by 
the  men,  who  stood  for  a  moment  looking  up. 

"I'll  go  up  this  side,"  said  one  of  the  policemen,  after, 
straining  the  back  of  his  neck  in  vain,  "and  you  go  up  the 
other.  The  rest  look  in  that  shed  behind.  That's  where 
they  likely  are." 

The  men  mounted  gingerly,  the  others  disappeared. 
Mrs.  Lime  gave  Julia  a  tug,  they  wriggled  out,  and  ran 
round  to  the  front  entrance.  Before  those  on  the  rear 
benches  knew  what  was  happening,  the  two  girls  were  half 
way  down  the  middle  aisle.  Then  another  roar  arose. 

"Put  them  out!     Put  them  out!" 

Julia  and  Mrs.  Lime  attempted  to  mount  a  bench,  but 
were  pulled  down.  About  them  was  a  sea  of  astonished 
indignant  faces,  such  as,  no  doubt,  confronted  the  British 
working-man  years  before  when  he  so  far  forgot  himself 
as 'to  demand  equal  political  rights  with  the  gentry  and  the 
employer.  Julia  laughed  outright  as  she  saw  those  scan 
dalized  faces,  but  it  would  have  fared  ill  with  them  when 
the  police  and  stewards  came  running  back,  had  not  several 
gentlemen,  who,  unwilling  to  see  violence  done  to  women, 
however  they  might  disapprove  of  their  tactics,  formed  a 
bodyguard,  and  escorted  them  to  the  door.  Quite  satis 
fied  with  their  night's  work  they  went  to  their  inn  and  slept 
soundly. 


VI 

So  far  they  had  not  spoken  in  any  of  the  larger  towns, 
for  in  this  manufacturing  and  colliery  district  it  was  diffi 
cult  to  collect  a  crowd  in  the  market-place  except  on  Satur 
day  nights,  and  heretofore  heavy  rains  had  kept  the  men 
indoors  with  their  pipe  and  beer.  But  they  distributed 
their  literature  on  the  streets,  and  in  shops  and  hotel 
dining-rooms,  visited  every  house  to  which  they  could 
obtain  entrance,  and  scored  one  signal  triumph.  The  Con 
servative  candidate,  watching  their  progress,  and  having 
no  fixed  scruples  to  violate,  came  out  sonorously  for  Woman. 
He  even  called  on  them  personally  and  promised  his  active 
help  in  Parliament  if  they  would  canvass  for  him.  They 
did  not  place  too  much  faith  in  his  word,  but  they  were 
out  to  defeat  an  enemy,  one  who  was  also  a  member  of 
that  party  responsible  for  all  the  indignities  visited  upon 
their  cause.  By  this  time  that  momentous  night  had  come 
and  gone  when  Mrs.  Pankhurst  and  her  band  were  forcibly 
ejected  from  the  latticed  gallery  above  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  after  hearing  their  bill  talked  out ;  and  Sir  Henry 
Campbell- Bannerman,  after  receiving  the  deputation  of 
representative  women  with  amiability  and  encouragement, 
had  astounded  them  with  the  warning  that  they  were  to 
expect  nothing  from  his  Cabinet.  So  war  had  been  de 
clared  on  the  Government,  and  this  was  merely  the  first  of 
the  by-elections  which  was  to  give  the  women  an  oppor 
tunity  to  exhibit  their  power. 

"We've  a  chance !"  said  Mrs.  Lime,  as  the  Conservative 
candidate  smiled  himself  out  of  their  presence.  Her  dark 
eyes  were  full  of  light,  her  sad  mouth  smiling.  "Oh, 
but  a  chance  !  If  we  could  only  win  !  There'd  be  some 
head-shaking  up  there  at  Westminster." 

309 


310  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

"Well!"  said  Julia,  also  triumphant,  "at  least  we've 
made  the  Liberal  candidate  look  persecuted.  I  know 
that  every  time  he  catches  sight  of  us  he  longs  to  call  the 
police." 

The  following  day  was  Saturday  and  they  arrived  at  one 
of  the  most  important  towns  in  the  district.  The  sun  was 
out  and  it  was  immediately  decided  to  take  the  corner 
hustings.  By  this  time,  Julia  had  quite  forgotten  her  old 
objection  to  street  corners ;  it  seemed  to  her  that  she  had 
forgotten  everything  she  had  known  on  any  subject  than 
the  one  in  possession ;  and  she  was  further  inspired  by  the 
discovery  that  her  tongue  possessed  both  persuasiveness 
and  power.  Even  bad  speakers  like  to  hear  themselves 
talk  as  soon  as  they  have  mastered  fright,  and  never  was 
there  a  good  one  that  would  not  rather  be  on  the  stump 
than  off  it.  Julia  was  enjoying  this  hard  fighting  as  she 
had  never  enjoyed  anything  in  her  life. 

The  town  was  surrounded  by  cigarette  factories,  and  on 
this  Saturday  afternoon  it  seemed  to  Julia  that  every  girl 
they  employed  must  be  promenading  the  streets  with  her 
hooligan  swain.  They  were  bold-looking  creatures,  cheaply 
and  loudly  attired,  and  universally  hilarious.  By  this 
time  Julia  had  concluded  that  the  common  people  of 
this  section  of  the  Midlands  were  more  common,  more 
rude,  more  offensive  than  any  she  had  encountered  in 
England,  with  the  possible  exception  of  the  barbarians  in 
the  London  slaughter  houses.  Even  Mrs.  Lime  remarked 
sadly  that  comparative  prosperity  did  not  seem  to  improve 
her  class.  But  Julia  had  yet  to  learn  that  these  young 
people  had  a  brutal  license  in  their  natures,  a  ribald  savag 
ery,  that  was  a  part  of  their  general  indifference  to  morals 
or  any  sense  of  decency. 

She  and  Mrs.  Lime  immediately  divided  the  town  into 
districts,  and  seeing  a  group  on  a  corner  near  to  which  there 
was  a  convenient  box,  Julia  mounted  her  platform  and 
began  to  address  the  eight  or  ten  young  men  and  women. 
At  first  they  merely  gave  a  rough  laugh;  then  one  cried 
out:  — 


HADJI   SADRA  311 

"Wy,  it's  a  bloomin'  suffragette!  Oh,  I  say,  wot  a 
lark  !  Wy  ain't  'er  golden  'air  'anging  down  'er  back  ?" 

Julia  had  heard  remarks  of  this  sort  before,  although  her 
speaking  experience  had  lain  almost  altogether  in  the 
villages,  where  the  human  animal,  less  sophisticated,  is 
also  less  aggressive.  In  a  few  moments  the  group  had 
become  a  crowd  that  blocked  the  street,  and  she  quite 
believed  that  no  speaker  had  ever  looked  into  so  many  hard 
and  hostile  eyes.  The  face  of  every  man  wore  an  insulting 
grin.  She  went  on  unperturbed,  however,  welcoming  them 
at  any  price,  for  this  was  her  first  opportunity  to  address 
a  town  crowd.  The  more  hostile,  the  better.  She  was 
confident  of  getting  their  ear  in  time. 

But  it  was  soon  evident  that  they  had  no  intention  of 
giving  her  their  ear.  They  roared  with  laughter,  they 
gave  unearthly  cat-calls.  Finally  one  hurled  a  vile  epithet 
at  her.  This  was  a  signal  which  unloosed  their  proudest 
accomplishment.  When  they  had  exhausted  their  vocab 
ulary,  and  it  was  a  large  one  when  it  came  to  obscenity, 
they  began  again ;  but  finding  that  she  looked  down  at 
them  undisturbed,  merely  waiting  for  a  pause,  they  began 
to  grow  angry,  and  pushed  forward.  Julia's  box  was  al 
ready  against  the  wall,  there  was  no  possible  means  of 
retreat,  and  there  was  not  a  friendly  face  in  that  ugly  crowd. 
But  she  was  not  conscious  of  any  fear.  Not  only  was  she 
fearless  by  nature,  but  she  had  been  trained  during  these 
last  four  years  to  impassivity  in  any  crisis.  What  she 
really  felt  was  the  profound  disdain  of  the  aristocrat  for  the 
brainless  mob,  and  although  she  did  not  realize  this  at  the 
moment,  it  did  flash  through  her  mind  that  here  was  one 
section  of  the  poor  that  might  go  to  the  devil  for  all  the  help 
and  sympathy  it  would  ever  get  from  her.  But  of  these 
and  other  uncomplimentary  sentiments  she  betrayed  no 
more  than  she  did  of  fear,  although  she  was  not  sufficiently 
hardened  to  suppress  an  inward  quiver  at  the  foul  lan 
guage  with  which  she  had  now  been  assailed  for  some  ten 
minutes. 

"Oh,  I  say!"  cried  one  of  the  girls,  when  her  compan- 


3i2  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

ions  finally  paused  to  draw  breath.  "Is  she  a  bloomin' 
stature?  Let's  put  some  life  in  'er."  And  another 
shrieked,  "  Wot's  golden  'air  for  if  it  ain't  'anging  down  'er 
back?  Let's  put  it  w'ere  it  belongs." 

"That's  right." 

The  crowd  surged  forward.  Julia,  looking  into  those 
primitive  faces,  the  faces  of  good  old  barbarians,  full  of  the 
lust  to  hurt,  wondered  if  her  time  had  come.  She  made 
no  doubt  that  they  would  tear  the  clothes  off  her  back, 
perhaps  trample  her  underfoot,  for  they  had  lashed  their 
passions  far  beyond  their  limited  powers  of  restraint. 
She  squared  her  shoulders.  For  the  moment  the  world 
looked  to  her  full  of  eyes  and  fists.  Then  she  hastily 
glanced  to  right  and  left.  Down  the  street  two  blue-clad 
figures  were  advancing,  accompanied  by  the  Liberal  candi 
date  and  another  man.  She  drew  a  long  breath  of  relief. 
She  had  grown  to  look  upon  the  British  policeman  as  her 
natural  enemy,  but  now  she  hailed  him  as  her  only  friend 
on  earth. 

She  raised  her  arm  and  indicated  the  approach  of  the 
law.  One  of  the  men  followed  her  gesture,  and  shouted, 
"  The  bobbies."  The  clinched  hands  dropped  and  the  crowd 
fell  back.  As  the  two  policemen  strode  up  Julia  expected  to 
see  official  fists  fly,  and  as  many  arrests  made  as  two  men 
of  law  could  handle.  To  her  amazement  the  policemen 
pushed  their  way  through  the  mob  and  jerked  her  off 
the  box. 

"Nice  doings,  this,"  cried  one,  indignantly.  "Obstruct 
ing  traffic  and  collecting  crowds.  Ain't  you  suffragettes 
ever  going  to  learn  sense?" 

"I!"  cried  Julia,  with  still  deeper  indignation.  "You 
had  better  arrest  your  townspeople.  Couldn't  you  hear 
them  using  language  that  alone  ought  to  send  them  to  jail  ? 
And  couldn't  you  see  that  they  would  have  torn  me  to 
pieces  in  another  moment  ?  Why  don't  you  arrest  them  ?' ' 

"  It's  you  we're  going  to  arrest.  It's  you  that's  obstruct 
ing  traffic  and  collecting  crowds,  not  them.  They're  out 
for  their  'arf  'oliday." 


HADJI   SADRA  313 

"But  I  tell  you  they  threatened  me  with  violence." 

"  Serves  you  right.  You  come  along,  and  if  you  make 
any  fuss  you'll  get  hurt,  sure  enough." 

And  Julia,  filled  with  a  wrath  of  which  she  had  never 
dreamed  herself  capable,  was  dragged  off  between  the  two 
policemen,  while  the  crowd  jeered  and  howled,  and  the 
Liberal  candidate  stood  on  the  other  side  of  the  street 
laughing  softly. 

Once  her  fury  so  far  overcame  her  that  she  struggled  and 
attempted  to  break  away,  but  one  of  the  men  gave  her  arm 
such  a  wrench  that  she  walked  quietly  to  the  Town  Hall, 
thankful  that  anger  had  burned  up  her  tears. 

At  the  Town  Hall  she  was  charged  with  disorderly  con 
duct  and  obstructing  traffic,  and  promptly  committed  to  a 
cell,  to  await  trial  on  Monday  morning. 

So  Julia  spent  twenty-four  hours  in  prison.  She  could 
have  summoned  sleep  at  night  had  she  been  disposed,  but 
nothing  was  farther  from  her  thought.  She  was  too  in 
furiated  to  sleep  and  forget  for  a  moment  the  gross  injustice 
to  which  she  had  been  subjected  by  the  laws  of  a  country 
supposed  to  be  the  most  enlightened  on  the  globe.  She 
had  mounted  a  box  to  make  a  peaceable  —  not  an  incen 
diary  —  speech,  something  men  did  whenever  they  listed, 
and  with  no  fear  of  punishment.  Her  denouncement 
of  the  Liberal  candidate  and  her  plea  for  Suffrage  would 
have  contained  no  offence  against  law  and  order ;  but  she 
had  been  treated  as  if  she  had  incited  a  riot,  while  the  vile 
creatures  that  had  insulted  and  threatened  her  were  not 
even  reprimanded. 

In  a  mind  naturally  fair  and  just,  nothing  will  cause 
rebellion  so  profound  as  an  act  of  gross  injustice.  Had 
Julia,  from  a  safe  vantage  point,  seen  Mrs.  Lime  or  any  other 
woman  treated  as  she  had  been,  her  soul  would  have  boiled 
with  righteous  wrath;  but  it  takes  the  personal  indignity 
to  sink  deep  and  bear  results.  Julia  in  that  long  night  and 
the  day  that  followed,  cold,  half-fed,  alone,  in  a  vermin- 
ridden  cell,  forgot  her  ambitions,  her  artistic  pleasure  in 
playing  a  part  well,  and  became  as  rampant  a  suffragette 


3i4  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

as  any  of  the  little  band  in  Park  Walk.  She  would  war 
against  these  stupid  brutes  in  power  as  long  as  they 
left  breath  in  her,  fight  to  give  women  the  opportunity 
to  do  better.  Something  was  rotten  when  justice  worked 
automatically  without  logic;  and  if  men  were  too  indif 
ferent  to  effect  a  cure,  it  was  time  another  sex  took  hold. 
No  wonder  these  chosen  women  were  indifferent  to  femininity, 
and  gowns,  and  all  that  had  given  woman  her  superficial 
power  in  the  past.  What  mortal  happiness  they  missed 
mattered  nothing.  They  were  equipped  for  one  purpose 
only,  to  avenge  and  protect  the  millions  ignored  by  nature 
and  fortune,  and  the  victims  of  man-made  laws ;  and  if 
they  were  mauled,  and  torn,  and  despised,  and  killed,  it 
was  but  the  common  fate  of  the  advance  guard,  the  martyrs 
in  all  great  reforms;  they  were  quite  consistent  in  being 
as  indifferent  to  sympathy  as  to  the  denunciations  of  the 
fools  that  saw  in  them  but  a  new  variety  of  the  unwomanly 
woman. 

And  so  Julia  received  her  baptism  of  fire. 


VII 

ON  Sunday  afternoon,  her  wrath  had  burned  itself  out, 
but  not  its  consequences.  As  she  had  no  intention  of 
making  herself  ill  she  was  about  to  lie  down  and  sleep, 
when  her  door  was  opened  and  she  was  told  that  she  was 
free. 

This  was  by  no  means  welcome,  for  she  wished  to  express 
herself  in  court,  refuse  to  pay  her  fine,  and  go  to  gaol,  that 
being  the  program  of  the  suffragettes.  But  she  was  told 
to  depart,  and  no  explanation  was  given  her.  Wondering 
if  the  duke  had  been  telegraphed  to,  and  brought  swift 
influence  to  bear,  she  left  the  prison  with  some  uneasiness ; 
her  old-fashioned  relative  was  her  one  source  of  apprehen 
sion.  If  disapproval  overcame  his  sense  of  justice  and  he 
cut  down  her  income,  she  should  have  that  much  less  to 
devote  to  the  Suffrage  cause. 

At  the  inn  she  found  that  Mrs.  Lime,  who  had  escaped 
arrest,  was  out,  and  ordered  the  maid  to  bring  her  bath. 
When  she  had  finished,  the  maid  returned  with  her  tea, 
and  stood  by  sympathetically. 

"So  you've  been  to  prison  ?"  she  asked. 

41 1  have,"  said  Julia. 

"  That's  no  place  for  you,  mum.  Wot's  the  perlice  think 
ing  of,  giving  you  wot  for  like  that?" 

"Do  you  belong  to  this  town?" 

"I  do,  mum." 

"Then,  let  me  tell  you,  it  is  a  disgrace  to  a  civilized  coun 
try." 

"Oh,  I  say!" 

Julia,  who  wanted  to  talk  to  somebody,  gave  an  account 
of  her  adventure  with  the  mob,  and  while  omitting  their 
language,  let  it  be  understood  in  her  descriptions  of  their 
appearance  and  performance. 

3'S 


3i6  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

The  woman  nodded  emphatically.  "  Right  you  are.  It's 
them  factory  girls.  They're  no  good.  Trollops,  all  of 
'em.  W'y,  d'you  know,  I  worked  in  one  of  them  fac 
tories  for  seven  years,  and  I  was  the  only  girl  in  the  lot 
that  kep'  me  virtue."  (She  looked  like  a  black-and-tan 
terrier  and  was  not  much  larger.)  "That  I  did, 
though  !"  And  she  nodded  her  head  as  if  keeping  time  to 
a  hymn. 

Julia,  who  had  finished  her  tea,  stood  up  and  began  to 
unpin  her  hair  as  a  hint  that  she  would  like  to  be  alone. 
But  the  woman  set  down  the  tray  and  exclaimed  in  a  voice 
of  rapture :  - 

" Oh,  my  eye,  wot  hair!  Oh,  but  I've  always  admired 
golden  'air,  me  own's  that  black." 

"It's  vjery  disreputable  hair  at  present,"  said  Julia, 
amiably.  "It  hasn't  been  down  since  yesterday  morning. 
Naturally  I  couldn't  use  the  prison  comb  —  if  there  was 
one!" 

"Oh  —  would  you  —  would  you  let  me  brush  it,  now?  " 
cried  the  woman,  eagerly.  "  I've  never  'ad  me  'ands  in  'air 
like  that.  I'd  enjoy  it,  that  I  would." 

"Why  —  if  you  like."  Julia,  who  was  tired,  felt  that  it 
would  not  be  unpleasant  to  have  the  services  of  a  maid 
once  more. 

She  sat  down  and  the  woman  began  to  unbraid  the  long 
plaits. 

"Are  you  sure  you  have  the  time?"  asked  Julia,  per 
functorily. 

"Oh,  yes.  Me  'usband's  'ead  waiter,  and  the  master 
would  give  up  the  'otel  before  'im  ;  and  he  —  Jim  —  don't 
dare  say  nothing  to  me,  for  fear  I'd  caterwaul.  I  can  do 
that  awful.  Oh,  my  eye,  but  this  is  'air  !" 

She  shook  out  the  long  strands  and  held  one  up  to  the 
light.  "Oh,  Gawd!"  she  cried,  with  mounting  fervor. 
"No  wonder  them  trollops  wanted  to  mar  you.  They  were 
jealous,  that's  wot.  They'd  'ave  cut  it  off  if  the  perlice 
'adn't  come  along,  and  pinned  it  on  their  own  'eads.  And 
beauties  they'd  'ave  been  !" 


HADJI   SADRA  317 

"Do  you  suppose  they  were  drunk  ?" 

"'Alf  and  'alf.  It  wasn't  time  to  be  full  up,  but  you 
oughter  see  them  in  the  market-place  at  ten  o'clock  !" 

"What  makes  them  so  brutal,  then?  I've  never  seen 
anything  like  them  in  England." 

"Oh,  I  fawncy  they're  about  the  worst  England's  got. 
Maybe  it's  the  cigarette  factories  does  it,  I  cawn't  say. 
But  they're  a  rotten  lot,  and  all  me  sisters  was  the  same. 
I  'ad  a  blond  sister,  but  her  hair  was  more  whitish,  not  gold 
like  yours.  She  was  pretty  and  more  gentle-like,  but  she 
went  to  the  bad  fast  enough.  I  swore  I'd  keep  me  virtue 
an'  I  did.  I  never  spoke  to  a  man  I  wasn't  introduced  to 
proper  until  the  night  I  met  Jim  in  the  merry-go-round  —  in 
the  same  seat,  he  was,  and  he  made  up  to  me  —  fell  that  in 
love  he  couldn't  see  straight,  and  when  he  tried  'is  non 
sense,  he  got  wot  for  and  then  he  respected  me  from  that 
day  forth  —  I've  read  me  penny  dreadfuls,  you  see.  Well, 
we  got  married  proper,  and  now  we  'ave  two  good  positions, 
and  may  own  a  public  some  day.  It  pays  to  be  virtuous, 
it  do.  He  isn't  the  only  sweetheart  I  ever  'ad,  either," 
she  rambled  on ;  and  Julia,  seeing  that  nothing  would 
quench  her,  resigned  herself,  for  the  woman's  touch  was  deft 
and  light.  "  I  'ad  a  fine  'andsome  sweetheart  once  —  Jim 
ain't  nothing  to  look  at,  and  would  drink  if  I  didn't  cater 
waul  so  —  'andsome  and  upstanding  he  was,  and  all  the 
girls  was  after  him ;  and  he  was  steady,  too,  had  one  job 
and  kcp'  it.  He  was  in  a  big  Manchester  draper's  shop. 
He  used  to  come  'ere,  and  I  used  to  visit  me  aunt  —  he  was 
me  cousin  and  'is  name  was  Harry  Muggs.  He  was  in 
love  with  me  that  desperate  he'd  swear  he'd  kill  himself  if  I 
didn't  'ave  'im.  He  knew  I'd  kep'  me  virtue,  and  he  thought 
me  grand.  Once  he  was  down  'ere  after  me  'ard,  and  we 
took  a  walk  and  come  to  a  pond,  and  when  I  told  'im  once 
more  I  wouldn't  '*  e  'im,  and  started  to  go  'ome,  I  was 
that  tired  saying  no,  he  caught  me  round  me  waist 
and  'eld  me  over  the  pond  and  swore  he'd  drop  me  in  if  I 
didn't  'ave  'im.  I  was  that  frightened  I  thought  I'd  die, 
and  I  screamed  like  I  was  stuck.  But  I  wouldn't  give  in, 


3i8  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

and  then  he  threw  me  on  the  bank  and  run  off  and  I've 
never  seen  'im  since." 

"  Why  didn't  you  marry  him,  if  he  was  such  a  paragon  ?" 
asked  Julia,  languidly. 

"Oh,  I  couldn't,  mum.  He  was  a  chance  child.  Me 
aunt  'ad'  im  by  a  butler  where  she  lived.  I  'adn't  kep'  me 
virtue  for  that  — •  wot's  the  matter  - 

Julia  was  doubled  up. 

"Oh  —  nothing  —  really  —  I  think  I  must  be  a  bit 
hysterical  after  my  experience.  Would  you  mind  telling  me 
what  the  weather  looks  like  ?  It  was  rather  threatening 
when  I  came  in." 

The  woman  went  to  the  window  and  lifted  the  sash 
curtain.  "It  damps,  mizzles  like,"  she  said  dubiously. 
"But  I  don't  fawncy  it'll  rain  'ard.  'Ere  comes  your 
friend.  She  was  ready  to  drop  last  night.  My,  but  she's 
that  stringy  to  look  at." 

"Would  you  mind  telling  her  that  I  am  here  ?  She  must 
be  anxious." 

The  woman  departed  unwillingly,  her  eyes  fixed  to  the 
last  on  the  hair  Julia  was  braiding.  A  moment  later  Mrs. 
Lime  came  in.  She  looked  thinner  and  gaunter  than  ever, 
but  her  eyes  burned  with  sombre  enthusiasm. 

"Oh,  you  poor  dear  !"  she  exclaimed.  "But  you  mustn't 
mind,  for  the  more  unfair  treatment  we  receive,  the  sooner 
will  the  right-thinking  people  of  the  country  be  roused, 
and  the  more  recruits  we  shall  get.  That's  where  the  law 
shows  its  stupidity." 

"I  cjidn't  mind  in  the  least,"  said  Julia,  dryly.  But  she 
made  no  confidences.  That  violent  upheaval  and  read 
justment  were  sacred  to  herself. 

"There's  another  thing,"  said  Mrs.  Lime.  "A  reporter 
was  with  the  Liberal  candidate  and  the  policemen  at  the 
time  of  your  arrest.  He's  also  the  correspondent  of  a 
London  paper.  He  hunted  me  up  at  once  to  get  some  par 
ticulars  about  your  family,  etc.  - 

"Oh  !"  exclaimed  Julia.     "Did  you  tell  him  ?" 

"  Why,  of  course.     We  cannot  have  too  much  publicity,  and 


HADJI   SADRA  319 

you  will  be  a  great  help  to  us.  The  story  will  be  in  the  Lon 
don  newspaper  to-morrow  morning  as  well  as  here.  No  doubt 
there  will  be  a  London  reporter  down  to  interview  you  - 

"Ah  !"  Julia's  color  had  been  steadily  rising.  "I  can't 
have  that." 

"There's  only  one  thing  to  think  of,"  said  Mrs.  Lime, 
severely,  "and  that  is  the  cause.  People  complain  that 
we're  sensational,  trying  to  attract  public  attention.  Why, 
of  course  we  are.  Rather.  How  otherwise  can  we  make 
ourselves  known,  much  less  felt,  become  a  political  issue, 
if  we  don't  take  the  obvious  method?  No  newspaper 
would  notice  our  existence  if  we  didn't  make  ourselves 
'news'  and  force  their  hand.  Peaceful  demonstrations,  like 
shrinking  personalities,  belong  to  the  dark  ages  of  Suffrage, 
when  nothing  was  accomplished.  Now,  if  that  reporter 
comes  down  from  London,  you  must  talk.  Jump  at  every 
chance  to  further  the  cause  that's  given  you.  It  isn't  so 
often  we're  interviewed." 

"Very  well,"  said  Julia,  and  half  wished  she  had  changed 
her  name  and  dyed  her  skin  and  hair. 

As  Mrs  Lime  had  anticipated,  a  reporter  of  one  of  the 
less  conservative  London  newspapers  arrived  on  the  follow 
ing  morning.  He  was  accompanied  by  the  correspondent  of 
a  chain  of  American  newspapers,  commonly  referred  to  as 
"Yellow."  Mrs.  Lime  saw  them  first  and  gave  a  full 
account  of  the  campaign.  Then  Julia  descended,  and 
having  made  up  her  mind  to  talk,  she  talked  to  some  purpose. 
When  she  finished,  there  was  no  confusion  in  either  of  the 
young  men's  minds  as  to  her  opinion  of  the  Government, 
the  police,  and  the  prison  system  of  England.  Her  descrip 
tion  of  the  mob  was  so  graphic  that  the  American  corre 
spondent  nodded  with  approval. 

"Say !"  he  exclaimed.  "You  ought  to  have  six  months 
of  this  experience,  and  then  go  over  to  the  U.  S.  and  lecture. 
You'd  make  money  for  your  cause  all  right,  all  right. 
Better  think  it  over." 

"That's  not  a  bad  idea,"  said  Mrs.  Lime,  with  enthusiasm. 
"We  will  think  it  over." 


320  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

During  the  afternoon  the  girls  once  more  started  oil  on 
the  heels  of  the  candidate.  But  their  work  was  almost 
done.  The  polling  took  place  on  the  following  Thursday. 
Almost  as  much  to  their  own  amazement  as  to  that  of 
every  one  else,  the  Liberal  candidate  was  defeated  by  a 
small  majority.  But  if  it  was  the  first  demonstration  of 
the  power  of  the  Militants  in  by-elections,  it  was  by  no 
means  the  last. 

There  was  no  question  in  the  London  press  of  ignoring 
this  issue  and  its  cause.  With  one  accord  it  expressed 
astonishment,  indignation,  and  righteous  wrath,  at  the 
unpatriotic  selfishness  of  a  set  of  women  that  were  a  disgrace 
to  their  country  and  their  sex. 


VIII 

MRS.  LIME  was  recalled  to  London,  and  Julia,  being 
now  full  fledged,  was  ordered  to  make  a  tour  of  certain 
districts  of  the  north  and  west,  speak  in  all  circumstances, 
and  make  converts  not  only  to  the  cause,  of  Suffrage,  but  to 
the  Woman's  Social  and  Political  Union. 

Julia  for  the  next  four  months  spoke  nearly  every  day, 
sometimes  twice  a  day.  She  had  encounters  with  the  police, 
although  she  tactfully  avoided  street  corners,  and  they 
hardly  could  eject  her  from  a  hall  she  herself  had  hired. 
There  were  towns,  however,  where  the  feeling  among  men 
was  so  strong  against  the  new  manifestation  of  Suffrage, 
that  owners  refused  to  rent  her  their  halls,  and  then  she 
spoke  either  in  a  friendly  drawing-room,  at  a  working- 
girls'  club,  on  the  common,  or,  on  Sunday,  in  an  open 
field.  On  the  whole,  however,  she  had  far  less  trouble 
with  the  authorities  than  she  expected  and  fewer  unfriendly 
demonstrations.  Occasionally,  the  rear  benches  were 
occupied  by  hooligans  employed  to  howl  her  down,  and 
to  these  infringements  the  police  were  deaf;  but  in  the 
audience  there  was  usually  a  sprinkling  of  respectable  men 
who  had  come  to  hear  what  she  had  to  say ;  and  when  they 
were  tired  of  the  interruptions,  they  arose  as  one  man  and 
disposed  of  the  intruders. 

She  found  herself  addressing  great  and  greater  crowds, 
for  the  north  was  awakening  in  earnest;  the  laboring 
women  had  been  ready  for  years,  and  now  the  middle  class, 
long  torpid,  was  furnishing  recruits  every  hour.  Annie 
Kenny's  second  and  long  imprisonment  caused  wide-spread 
interest  as  well  as  indignation,  and  her  release  was  cele 
brated  by  great  meetings  of  welcome  both  in  London  and 
the  provinces.  After  addressing  crowds  in  Lancashire, 
and  receiving  an  ovation,  she  went  to  Wales  to  speak,  and 


322  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

Mrs.  Pethick  Lawrence  and  Bridgit  Herbert,  once  more 
whole  and  belligerent,  held  a  series  of  meetings  in  Yorkshire. 

Like  a  heather  fire  the  new  gospel  of  Suffrage  swept  over 
the  north,  and  where  a  few  months  since  the  W.  S.  P.  U.  had 
struggled  along  with  a  few  hundred  members,  it  now  reck 
oned  its  thousands. 

Julia,  like  many  another  aspirant  for  fame,  found  that 
she  must  submit  to  have  notoriety  thrust  upon  her  first. 
She  was  regarded  as  "news"  both  by  the  British  and  the 
American  press.  Reporters  followed  her  about,  she  had 
been  ordered  by  headquarters  to  have  her  photograph  taken, 
and  it  frequently  embellished  the  sumptuous  weekly  news 
papers.  There  was  no  question  of  her  popularity  as  a 
speaker,  aside  from  the  growing  popularity  of  her  subject. 
She  not  only  spoke  with  a  full  command  of  the  principles  and 
intentions  of  the  new  movement,  often  brilliantly,  and 
always  well,  never  with  sentimentality,  and  often  with 
power,  but  she  was  a  charming  figure  to  look  at.  She 
had  sent  for  her  trunks  and  her  maid. 

She  rarely  felt  tired,  for  the  artificial  method  of  relaxation 
which  she  had  been  taught,  and  practised  daily,  gave  both 
brain  and  body  a  more  complete  rest  than  sleep  itself. 
Therefore,  was  she  always  in  form,  and  never  looked  worn. 
As  her  fame  grew,  more  and  more  of  the  county  people 
attended  her  meetings,  and  many  distinguished  names  upon 
which  the  Government  relied  for  opposition  were  added 
to  the  list  of  converts. 

She  was  also  complimented  by  covert' offers  from  the 
pillars  of  the  anti-suffrage  party,  and  one  supporter  of  the 
Government  went  so  far  as  to  make  love  to  her;  then, 
finding  himself  inoculated  with  his  own  virus,  retired  in 
discomfort  after  a  dry  reference  by  Julia  to  Parnell  and 
Mrs.  O'Shea. 

"How  do  you  like  being  famous?"  asked  Mrs.  Herbert 
one  day.  They  had  planned  to  meet  for  Sunday. 

"  Famous  ?     Is  that  what  you  call  it  ?  " 

"Rather.  We  live  in  the  twentieth  century.  The 
advertising  poster  is  the  modern  work  of  art.  I'm  told 


HADJI   SADRA  323 

your  picture  has  appeared  in  every  illustrated  paper  in  the 
United  States.  It's  not  only  your  beauty  and  brains  and 
Kingsborough  connection.  Some  people  have  a  magnetism 
for  the  public,  and  you  are  one  of  them.  You  strike  the 
spark." 

"The  oddest  thing  about  it  all  is  that  there  doesn't  seem 
to  be  the  least  jealousy  among  the  women  in  London. 
They  might  easily  resent  that  a  newcomer  with  no  more 
ability  than  themselves  should  suddenly  shoot  up  into 
what  you  call  fame.  It's  almost  uncanny." 

" Jealous?  Not  they.  What  they're  after  is  freedom 
and  power  for  women,  and  they  don't  care  tuppence  whose 
sun  shines  the  brightest  in  the  process.  They're  deper 
sonalized,  those  women." 

"All  the  same  it's  uncanny.  It  makes  them  the  more 
formidable.  As  Nigel  says,  they're  a  new  race.  I  believe 
I'm  growing  just  like  them.  I'd  go  to  the  stake  myself,  or 
blow  up  Westminster.  The  only  thing  that  worries  me  is 
the  attitude  of  the  duke.  Of  course  he  is  furious,  looks  upon 
me  as  a  disgrace  to  the  family,  particularly  since  I  can't 
keep  out  of  the  newspapers.  I've  had  two  letters  from  him, 
threatening  to  withdraw  my  income  if  I  don't  retire  into 
private  life.  He's  not  the  man  to  take  back  what  he  has 
given,  without  qualms,  but  I  fancy  he  will,  and  that  will 
leave  me  with  exactly  two  hundred  pounds  a  year,  —  all 
that  I  am  allowed  from  Harold's  estate.  That  would  merely 
keep  me,  and  so  far  I've  never  called  upon  the  Union's 
exchequer.  I  wish  I  might  always  be  able  not  only  to  pay 
my  own  expenses,  but  contribute  largely  to  the  fund." 

"The  duke  running  the  W.  S.  P.  U.  is  sufficiently  humor 
ous.  However,  you've  nothing  to  worry  about.  The 
American  public  would  pay  much  gold  to  hear  you  speak, 
and  you  can  always  write." 


IX 

EARLY  in  September  Julia  spoke  in  Bradford  and  Keigh- 
ley,  and  on  the  following  Sunday  she  slipped  away  and  went 
to  Haworth,  not  only  to  rest  and  read  a  number  of  letters 
forwarded  by  her  solicitors,  but  to  worship  at  the  shrine 
of  the  Brontes. 

She  took  a  fly  at  the  station  in  the  valley,  but  halfway 
up  the  steep  road  which  leads  to  the  village  she  descended 
precipitately ;  the  fly  and  the  horse  had  executed  a  right 
angle.  She  walked  the  rest  of  the  distance,  the  rough 
stones  giving  a  foothold,  and  soon  reached  the  long  crooked 
street  which  begins  with  the  Black  Bull  Inn  and  finishes 
at  the  moor.  Short  streets  ending  nowhere  radiated  from 
this  central  thoroughfare  at  irregular  intervals.  There 
was  no  business  to  speak  of  in  Haworth.  The  men  worked 
in  Keighley  or  Bradford,  the  young  women  in  the  worsted 
mills  of  the  valley.  Julia,  driving  the  day  before,  had 
watched  the  long  procession  of  girls,  shawls  pinned  about 
their  heads,  file  out  of  the  factories,  and,  two  by  two, 
cross  the  valley  either  to  the  road  that  led  up  to  Haworth,  or 
to  another  village  higher  above  the  moor.  It  was  the 
proud  boast  of  Haworth  that  every  inhabitant  had  a  bank 
book,  and  Julia  felt  it  would  be  a  relief  to  visit  one  village 
where  there  was  no  poverty.  It  looked  trim  and  prosperous, 
picturesque  though  it  was,  and  such  men  and  women  as  were 
to  be  seen  had  none  of  that  pinched  hopeless  look  which 
had  put  fire  into  so  many  of  her  speeches. 

After  she  had  duly  admired  Branwell  Bronte's  chair, 
which  the  landlady  of  the  inn  assumed  she  had  come  to  see, 
and  had  made  it  understood  that  she  really  intended  to  stay 
overnight,  she  was  shown  to  a  large  room  upstairs,  overlook 
ing  the  churchyard.  The  inn,  in  fact,  formed  one  of  its 
walls,  and  there  were  flat  stones  directly  beneath  her 

324 


HADJI   SADRA  325 

window.  It  was  a  gloomy  crowded  churchyard,  with 
toppling  box-tombs  and  heavy  dusty  trees,  its  farther  boun 
dary  the  low  stone  parsonage  that  had  sheltered  the  Brontes. 
They,  too,  could  read  the  inscriptions  on  the  stones  from 
their  windows.  Small  wonder  they  died  of  consumption. 

From  the  street  came  the  sound  of  children's  voices 
and  wooden  clogs.  Her  room,  with  its  old  four-post  bed, 
was  almost  sumptuous.  Julia  would  have  liked  to  stay 
a  month.  But  time  pressed.  She  established  herself 
comfortably  and  slit  the  large  envelope  containing  her 
letters. 

At  sight  of  one  she  sat  upright  and  changed  color,  but 
put  it  aside  to  read  last. 

The  first  she  opened  was  from  the  duke.  He  wrote 
tersely  and  to  the  point.  This  was  his  final  warning.  The 
next  time  she  should  receive  his  communication  through  his 
solicitors.  Another  was  from  Hadji  Sadrii  containing  much 
advice  and  some  approval.  Her  mother,  to  whom  Mrs. 
Winstone  had  sent  numerous  printed  accounts  of  her 
"performances, "  wrote  as  briefly  as  the  duke  and  even  more 
to  the  point.  Julia  was  a  public  woman  and  a  disgrace  to 
her  blood.  (It  would  never  have  occurred  to  Mrs.  Edis 
to  add  that  she  was  a  disgrace  to  her  sex.)  The  request 
for  Fanny  had  some  time  since  been  curtly  refused. 

Then  she  looked  at  the  envelope  of  Tay's  letter,  and 
finally  opened  it.  To  her  surprise  it  was  dated  May  second. 
It  began  characteristically. 

"Do  I  remember  you?  Gee!  Well!  Rather,  oh, 
princess  of  the  eyes  and  hair.  Things  have  happened  since 
last  we  met,  not  forgetting  April  eighteenth  of  the  current 
year,  but  I  can  see  you  as  plainly  as  I  saw  the  chimney  fall 
on  my  bed  on  the  date  just  mentioned.  Yes,  I've  grown 
some,  and  you  may  imagine  me,  at  the  present  moment,  if 
you  please,  dressed  in  khaki  and  top-boots,  with  a  beard  of 
three  weeks' growth  (I'm  as  smooth  as  a  play-actor  generally) 
and  almost  as  much  dirt ;  for  water,  like  everything  else  'in 
this  now  historic  town,  is  mighty  scarce.  At  the  present 
moment  I  am  stifling  in  the  linen  closet,  that  being  the 


326  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

only  room  in  my  wrecked  home  without  a  window;  if 
I  lit  a  candle  where  it  could  be  seen  I'd  be  liable  to  a  bullet 
in  my  devoted  head,  such  being  the  stern  ardors  of  those 
new  to  authority.  I've  not  had  a  minute  to  answer  your 
letter  in  the  daytime.  What  between  standing  in  the  bread 
line  for  hours  on  end  (often  with  a  Chinaman  in  front  and  a 
nigger  behind)  that  my  poor  old  parents  may  not  starve  - 
every  servant  deserted  on  the  i8th  —  and  cooking  two  meals 
a  day  in  the  street  (lucky  I've  always  been  a  good  camper), 
and  hustling  round  Oakland  the  rest  of  the  time,  trying  to 
patch  up  the  house  of  Tay,  besides  inditing  many  pages  of 
foolscap  to  assure  the  eastern  and  Central  American  firms 
we  do  business  with  that  we  are  still  at  the  same  old  stand 
(so  they  won't  sell  us  out  to  somebody  else),  —  well,  my 
golden  princess  of  the  tower,  you  can  figure  out  that  I'm 
pretty  busy.  t 

''I  wish  you  could  have  seen  the  old  town,  for  there'll 
never  be  a  new  one  like  it,  conglomeration  of  weird  and 
separate  eras  as  it  was ;  but  on  the  whole  I'd  rather  you 
saw  it  now.  It  makes  the  Roman  Forum  look  like  thirty 
cents.  Imagine  miles  of  broken  walls,  columns,  and  arches, 
of  all  shades  of  red  and  brown  and  smoky  gray,  yawning 
cellars  full  of  twisted  debris,  one  heap  of  ruins  with  a  dome 
like  an  immense  bird-cage,  still  supporting  something  they 
called  a  statue,  but  never  much  to  look  at  until  its  present 
chance  to  appear  suspended  in  air.  If  it  wasn't  the  wreck 
of  my  town,  I'd  have  some  artistic  spasms,  but  as  it  is,  I'm 
only  thinking  out  ways  and  means  to  get  rid  of  these  artistic 
ruins  as  quickly  as  possible. 

"It's  rather  fine,  do  you  know,  the  enthusiasm  of  these 
homeless,  meatless,  pretty-well-cleaned-out  inhabitants,  for 
the  great  new  city  that  is  to  be.  We  all  feel  like  pioneers 
—  and  look  like  them  !  —  but  with  this  difference :  we 
know  that  we  are  in  at  the  making  of  a  great  new  city,  and 
the  old  boys  never  knew  what  was  coming  to  them,  or  how 
soon  they'd  move  on.  Here  we  stick,  and  sixty  earthquakes 
couldn't  shake  us  off,  or  take  the  courage  out  of  us.  It  is 
almost  worth  while. 


HADJI   SADRA  327 

"  And,  oh,  Lord,  how  we  do  love  one  another.  (Or  did.) 
No  'Society.'  All  Socialists  (accidental  and  temporary 
but  real).  It's  a  good  object-lesson  of  what  the  world 
would  be  if  there  was  no  money  in  it.  But  alas !  over  in 
Oakland  —  where  there  is  a  little  business  doing  —  the 
phrase  'earthquake  love'  is  now  heard,  and  carries  its  own 
subtle  meaning.  I  don't  fancy  the  original  man  in  us  has 
altered  much.  He  just  got  a  jolt  out  of  the  saddle,  but 
the  saddle  is  still  there  and  so  is  the  man. 

"  It  seemed  odd  to  get  your  letter,  fairly  reeking  with  the 
Old  World,  in  the  midst  of  all  this  chaos,  and  for  at  least  half 
an  hour  I  was  transported,  hypnotized.  You're  some 
writer,  dear  lady,  and  in  those  all  too  brief  paragraphs  I 
saw  considerably  more  of  England  than  I  have  recalled 
during  the  past  ten  years  —  to  say  nothing  of  what  you  call 
the  East.  What  an  experience  of  life  you  have  had,  you 
dainty  princess  that  should  be  kept  in  a  glass  case.  But 
thank  God  you've  shut  him  up.  By  Jove,  I  believe  if  this 
hadn't  happened  I'd  have  taken  the  first  train  east  (our 
east),  and  the  first  boat  over  to  renew  my  former  dis 
tinguished  offer.  I've  never  been  hit  so  hard,  and  I've 
known  some  corking  girls,  too.  I  don't  say  I  haven't  been 
hit,  but  not  all  the  way  through ;  at  all  events  you  have 
the  honor  of  having  received  my  one  proposal.  Perhaps  I've 
worked  too  hard  to  think  seriously  of  getting  married,  and 
I've  gone  little  into  society  —  sometimes  one  party  a  winter. 
Yes,  I  was  well  on  the  road  to  making  my  everlasting  pile 
when  the  old  city  went  to  pot,  but  this  fire  (the  earth 
quake  wouldn't  have  stopped  business  twenty-four  hours, 
bad  as  it  was)  has  set  us  all  back  ten  years.  But  I'll  get 
there  all  the  same,  and  I  rather  like  the  prospect  of  the  fight. 

"  So  !  You're  in  sympathy  with  the  suffragettes  ?  I  can't 
see  you  in  any  such  r61e,  and  hope  you'll  have  a  new  fad 
by  the  time  you  get  this  —  heaven  knows  when  that  will 
be,  for  our  post-office  is  stuck  in  the  mud,  and  those  across 
the  bay  are  so  congested  with  mail  tfiat  it  will  take  another 
earthquake  to  turn  them  inside  out.  I  got  your  letter  by  a 
miracle. 


328  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

'  To  go  back  to  your  suffragettes,  I  haven't  heard  a  word 
about  them  since  April  i8th;  or  any  other  outside  news, 
for  the  matter  of  that.  The  newspapers  set  up  at  once  in 
Oakland,  but  nobody  is  interested  in  any  news  outside  of 
this  afflicted  district,  and  the  newspapers  don't  print  any. 
All  Europe  might  be  at  war  and  we  wouldn't  be  any  the 
wiser.  Nor  would  we  care  a  five-cent  piece  if  we  were. 

*'  But  I  hope  they've  been  suppressed,  and  that  when  I  get 
over  —  as  I  will  the  moment  I  dare  leave  —  they  will  be  as 
dead  as  William  Jennings  Bryan.  At  all  events  I  hope  you 
will  be  well  out  of  it.  I  don't  like  the  idea  one  little  bit. 
Why  don't  you  come  here  ?  To  a  traveller  like  you  that 
would  be  but  a  nice  little  jaunt.  The  railroads  are  going 
to  advertise  our  poor  old  city  as  the  greatest  ruin  in  the 
world,  and  we  hope  the  tourist  will  swallow  the  bait 
and  drop  a  few  thousands  in  our  lonesome  pockets.  This 
house  will  be  patched  up  as  soon  as  the  great  American 
\Vorking-man  can  be  induced  to  work,  but  at  present  he  is 
camping  on  the  hills  and  eating  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
Government.  Until  that  paternal  hand  is  withdrawn  not  a 
stroke  will  he  do.  But  we  could  put  you  up  somehow,  and 
maybe  you'd  enjoy  it. 

"  Poor  Cherry  lost  her  house  on  Nob  Hill,  and  all  that  was  in 
it  —  except  her  jewels.  She  put  those  in  a  pillow-case  and 
hiked  for  the  Presidio  —  her  machines  were  commandeered 
at  once  to  carry  hospital  patients  to  safety,  to  say  nothing 
of  dynamite.  Now,  she's  camping  with  us  and  does  the 
house  work,  and  pares  potatoes,  while  I  fry  them  —  on  a 
stove  we've  rigged  up  just  off  the  sidewalk,  and  surrounded 
with  inside  window-blinds.  She's  game,  like  all  the  women, 
doesn't  kick  about  anything,  and  only  screams  when  we  have 
one  of  our  numerous  little  imitations  of  the  grand  shake. 
Emily,  luckily  for  her,  had  married  and  gone  to  New  York 
to  live,  but  her  personal  income  will  be  nil  for  some  time  to 
come.  Her  name  is  Morison,  if  you  ever  happen  to  run  across 
her. 

"Well,  dear  little  princess,  my  candle  is  guttering,  and  I 
can't  buy  another  to-night.  No  stores  in  S.  F.,  and  it's  a 


HADJI   SADRA  329 

toss-up  if  I  remember  to  get  another  to-morrow  in  Oakland. 
The  moment  two  men  are  gathered  together  —  well,  you  have 
imagination  —  we  talked  nothing  but  earthquake  and 
fire  for  a  week  after  April  i8th,  and  now  we  talk  nothing 
but  insurance.  What's  more,  I've  had  architects  at  work 
for  the  last  three  weeks  drawing  plans  for  our  new  business 
house,  and  when  I  carf  induce  the  great  American  Working- 
man  to  clean  out  the  debris,  I'll  get  to  work  and  do  some 
thing  besides  talk.  But  what  a  letter  from  a  pioneer  and 
busted  capitalist !  Yes,  please  write  to  me  and  tell  me  the 
story  of  your  life  —  perhaps  I  should  explain  that  that  is 
slang.  But  you  couldn't  write  enough  to  satisfy  me,  and 
the  minute  I'm  free  (as  free  as  an  American  man  ever  is) 
I'll  make  tracks  for  little  old  London  —  unless  you  come 
here.  Why  not  ?  Do.  You  shall  have  your  daily  tub  if 
I  have  to  haul  water  from  the  bay.  And  I  can  cook.  If 
I've  got  any  imagination,  you've  a  lien  on  it  all  right.  Per 
haps  you  think  this  is  what  you  call  chatf.  Just  you  wait. 
I'm  not  what  you  call  reckless,  either,  but  -  Oh,  hang  it ! 
I'm  in  no  position  to  write  a  love  letter. 

44  Yes,  I'm  twenty-six,  but  I  can  tell  you  there  are  times 
I  feel  forty.  I've  worked  like  a  dog  these  last  five  years, 
and  not  only  at  business.  We  —  a  few  of  us  have  been 
trying  to  clean  up  the  politics  of  this  abandoned  town. 
Well,  it's  all  to  do. 

"  Really,  no  more ;  I'm  writing  in  the  dark. 

44  But  always  your  devoted 

"DANIEL  TAY." 


JULIA  smiled  all  through  this  letter,  and  wondered  if 
the  original  boy  in  some  men  ever  grew  up,  and  if  even  in 
the  United  States  there  were  another  Daniel  Tay.  Then 
she  read  it  over  again,  and  then  she  answered  it.  The 
moment  she  took  up  her  pen  she  came  to  herself  with  a 
shock.  She  had  been  travelling  between  San  Francisco 
and  Bosquith,  and  now  she  realized  that  she  had  nothing 
to  write  him  about  but  her  work  in  the  cause  upon  which 
she  was  embarked.  She  had,  these  last  .months,  bestowed 
barely  a  thought  on  all  that  had  gone  before,  and  she  did 
not  feel  the  least  desire  to  write  of  anything  else.  Would 
it  bore  as  well  as  disillusionize  him  ?  Well,  what  if  it  did? 
To  write  to  him  again  was  irresistible,  but  she  must  write 
out  her  present  self;  if  he  didn't  answer  —  well  —  perhaps, 
so  much  the  better. 

But,  beyond  the  subject,  she  was  at  no  pains  to  bore  him. 
She  took  pride  in  writing  him  a  far  better  letter  than  her 
first  and  gave  the  liveliest  possible  account  of  her  numerous 
adventures.  She  even  told  him  all  she  had  felt  during 
those  twenty-four  hours  in  prison,  something  she  had  never 
intended  to  confide  to  any  one;  but  although  she  would 
not  have  admitted  it,  she  had  a  secret  hankering  for  his 
complete  sympathy  and  understanding. 

11  And  you've  no  idea,"  she  concluded,  u  what  a  wonderful 
thing  it  is  to  have  a  vital  interest  in  life,  to  live  wholly 
outside  of  yourself,  to  strive  for  a  sort  of  perfection,  while 
at  the  same  time  your  vanity  is  titillated  with  the  thought 
that  you  are  helping  to  make  history.  I  really  do  not  know 
whether  I  have  any  personal  ambition  left  or  not.  When 
I  started  out  I  was  consumed  with  it.  This  great  cause  was 
merely  but  a  means  to  an  end.  But  now  —  I  don't  know 
whether  it  is  because  I  have  never  a  moment  to  think  of 

330 


HADJI   SADRA  331 

myself,  I  am  so  busy,  or  whether  the  cause  is  so  much 
greater  than  any  individual  can  be  —  I  don't  know.  I 
don't  know.  The  balance  may  be  struck  later.  The  only 
thing  I  strive  to  hold  on  to  is  my  sense  of  humor." 

When  this  letter  was  sealed,  she  had  a  sudden  access  of 
conscience  and  indited  another  to  Nigel,  whom  she  had 
quite  neglected  since  her  departure  from  London.  She 
reminded  him  that  he  had  published  nothing  for  a  year,  and 
asked  him  to  consider  her  suggestion  that  he  go  to  Acca 
and  write  the  Bahai-Socialism  novel.  "I  shall  worry 
until  you  do,"  she  concluded  this  epistle,  "for  it  would  be  a 
thousand  pities  if  the  subject  were  cheapened  by  the  horde  of 
third-raters,  always  nosing  for  new  'copy.'  The  Bahais 
want  a  big  man.  And  how  you  would  enjoy  writing  on 
Mount  Carmel.  Do  write  me  that  you  will  go  at  once." 

The  landlady  knocked  and  announced  that  her  dinner  was 
ready.  She  snatched  up  Tay's  letter  and  made  an  in 
stinctive  movement  to  put  it  in  her  bosom,  but  was  reminded 
that  her  blouse  buttoned  in  the  back.  Nor  had  she  a 
pocket.  So  she  put  the  letter  into  her  hand-bag,  and  won 
dered  if  fashion  would  be  the  death  of  romance. 

After  dinner,  she  started  for  the  moor.  She  wanted  a 
spray  of  white  heather,  and  to  walk  in  the  paths  of  the 
Brontes.  The  long  crooked  street  of  the  village  was  deserted, 
the  good  people  lingering  over  their  Sunday  meal.  But 
Julia  felt  little  interest  in  them.  As  she  reached  the  end 
of  the  street  and  looked  out  over  the  great  purple  expanse 
undulating  away  until  it  melted  into  the  low  pale  sky 
brushed  with  white,  she  was  wondering  which  of  these 
narrow  paths  had  been  Charlotte's  and  trying  to  conjure 
up  the  tragic  figure  of  Emily,  one  of  her  literary  loves. 
She  walked  for  several  miles  and  managed  to  find  the  nook 
in  the  glen  which  she  had  been  told  by  the  landlady  of 
the  Black  Bull  was  the  spot  where  Charlotte  had  sat  so 
often  to  dream  the  books  that  must  have  transformed  her 
bleak  life  into  wonderland.  No  object  she  for  all  the 
sympathy  that  had  been  wasted  on  her.  Immortality ! 
Julia,  whose  ego  was  enjoying  a  brief  recrudescence,  felt 


332  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

that  it  was  a  small  thing  to  be  half  starved  and  lonely, 
afflicted  by  a  drunken  brother,  and  sisters  dying  of  con 
sumption,  when  consoled  with  an  imagination  that  not 
only  swamped  life  for  this  poor  sickly  little  mortal,  but 
must  have  whispered  to  her  of  undying  fame.  And  she 
had  contributed  her  share  to  the  cause  of  which  this  devotee 
at  her  shrine  was  a  symbol,  vastly  different  from  all  that  is 
modern  as  she  had  been ;  for  had  she  not  been  of  the  few 
to  make  the  world  recognize  the  genius  of  woman?  She 
had,  in  truth,  been  one  of  the  flaming  torches. 

Julia  climbed  out  of  the  glen  and  started  to  return. 
After  she  had  traversed  several  of  the  knolls,  she  saw  that  the 
moor  down  by  the  village  was  alive  with  people.  The 
landlady  had  told  her  that  all  Haworth  took  its  Sunday 
afternoon  walk  on  the  moor,  but  she  still  felt  no  interest 
in  them,  and  renewed  her  search  for  white  heather. 

She  passed  the  first  group  and  nodded,  as  she  had  a  habit 
of  doing,  for  she  had  come  to  feel  as  if  the  toilers  of  England 
were  her  especial  charge.  They  smiled  in  return,  and  one 
stared  and  whispered  to  the  others.  Julia  guessed  that 
she  had  been  at  the  meeting  in  Keighley  the  night  before. 
The  crowd  became  thicker  and  she  was  soon  in  the  midst 
of  it.  She  would  have  been  stared  at  in  any  case,  for 
strangers  were  rare  in  Haworth.  Tourists  came  for  an 
hour  to  visit  the  Bronte  Museum,  and  hastened  off  to 
catch  their  train.  And  Julia  was  fair  to  look  upon  and 
exceeding  well  dressed.  The  girls  turned  to  look  after 
her  with  approval,  and  when  she  made  her  way  out  of 
what  would  seem  to  be  a  large  family  party  gossiping 
pleasantly,  and,  wandering  off,  stooped  once  more,  a  girl 
followed  and  asked  her  shyly  if  she  were  looking  for  white 
heather. 

"Oh,"  said  Julia,  "  would  you  help  me?  I  should  like 
a  spray  for  luck,  and  as  a  memento  of  your  village." 

"It's  hard  to  find,  miss,  but  we  can  look.  I've  found 
many  a  bit." 

They  strayed  off  together,  Julia  good-naturedly  answering 
the  eager  questions.  Suddenly  the  girl  turned. 


HADJI   SADRA  333 

"Why  !"  she  exclaimed.  " They're  all  coming  this  way, 
and  that  excited!" 

Julia  looked  and  saw  that  the  whole  company  was  stream 
ing  toward  her.  They  paused,  held  a  hurried  conference, 
and  then  one  of  the  younger  women  came  directly  up  to 
the  stranger. 

"We  are  thinking,"  she  said  diffidently,  "that  you  may 
be  Mrs.  France,  who  spoke  last  night  at  Keighley,  and  has 
been  speaking  all  over  the  north. " 

"Yes,  I  am  Mrs.  France,"  said  Julia,  wondering  what 
was  coming. 

"And  you  really  are  a  suffragette?" 

"That  is  what  they  call  us." 

"We've  never  seen  one,  only  one  or  two  of  us  who  were 
at  the  meeting  last  night.  The  rest  of  us  didn't  go,  we  was 
that  tired,  and  we're  wondering  if  you  wouldn't  give  us  a 
speech  here." 

"Oh  —  really  —  I  rarely  speak  on  Sunday,  and  even 
suffragettes  must  rest,  you  know." 

The  woman's  face  fell,  but  she  said  politely,  "Of  course. 
We  know  what  work  is.  But  we  may  never  have  another 
chance  —  and  we're  that  curious.  We'd  like  to  know  what 
it's  all  about." 

Julia  hesitated.  What  right  had  she  to  refuse  this  simple 
request?  It  was  her  business  to  advance  the  cause  of 
Suffrage  and  make  converts  wherever  she  could.  Nor  was 
she  tired.  She  was  merely  in  a  dreaming  mood,  and  wanted 
to  think  of  the  Brontes ;  to  anticipate,  as  she  realized  in  a 
flash  of  annoyance,  the  rereading  of  Tay's  letter.  She  had 
deliberately  been  trying  to  forget  it. 

"I  will  speak  with  pleasure,"  she  said.  "Have  you 
something  I  could  stand  on  ?  I'm  not  very  tall,  you  know." 

"One  of  the  men  went  for  a  table.  We  made  sure  you 
would  be  so  kind." 

The  man  was  even  now  stalking  up  the  moor  with  a 
kitchen  table  balanced  on  his  head.  As  Julia  walked 
toward  the  smiling  company  she  felt  once  more  the  ardent 
propagandist. 


334  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

"If  I  may,  ma'am,"  said  a  tall  young  man.  He  lifted 
her  lightly  and  stood  her  on  the  table. 

"Now,"  said  Julia,  smiling  down  into  several  hundred 
faces,  a  few  set  in  disdain,  but  for  the  most  part  friendly, 
"what  is  it  you  wish  me  to  tell  you?  How  much  do  you 
know  of  this  great  movement?" 

"Well,"  said  one  of  the  older  women,  "we  read  a  lot 
about  militants,  and  suffragettes,  and  fighting  the  police, 
and  going  to  prison,  and  big  meetings  all  over  England,  and 
we'd  like  to  know  what  it's  all  about.  That's  all." 

"You  might  begin,"  said  one  of  the  men,  with  a  faint 
accent  of  sarcasm,  "by  telling  us  what  good  the  vote'll  do 
you  when  you  get  it." 

Julia  began  by  reminding  them  of  the  interest  that  so 
many  of  the  factory  women  of  the  north  had  taken  in  the 
enfranchisement  of  their  sex  for  several  years  before  the 
militant  movement  began,  and  of  the  many  Annie  Kennys 
whose  eyes  were  opened  to  the  injustice  of  the  absence  of 
a  minimum  wage  for  women.  One  of  the  men  interrupted 
her. 

"Yes,  ma'am,  and  if  you  raise  women's  wages  so  that 
they  can  no  longer  undercut  men,  the  lot  of  'em  '11  be  kicked 
out." 

"Not  all.  The  best  will  be  retained,  for  the  best  are  as 
efficient  as  the  men.  The  inferior  ones  will  find  other  em 
ployment,  or  be  taken  care  of  by  men,  who  will  then  be  able 
to  support  their  families.  They  can  return  to  their  place 
in  the  home,  that  woman's  sphere  of  which  we  hear  so 
much." 

This  was  received  with  cheers,  but  the  man  growled :  - 

"It'll  take  time.  It'll  take  time.  Better  let  well  enough 
alone." 

"As  it  is  the  women  that  suffer,  it  is  for  them  to  say 
whether  it  is  well  enough.  Of  course  it  will  take  time.  We 
do  not  promise  Utopia  in  a  day  —  nor  ever,  for  that  mat 
ter.  But,  if  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  observe,  it  is  the 
women  of  this  country  that  are  waging  war  on  poverty,  not 
the  men.  Without  the  ballot  they  are  forced  to  advance 


HADJI  SADRA  335 

at  a  snail's  pace.  On  all  the  boards  to  which  they  are  ad 
mitted  they  do  the  work,  and  the  men,  who  outnumber 
them,  defeat  every  project  for  the  betterment  of  the  poor 
that  would  force  the  ratepayers  to  disgorge  a  few  more 
shillings.  Doctors,  and  all  thinking  and  humane  men,  for 
that  matter,  would  be  thankful  if  these  boards  were  com 
posed  entirely  of  women,  for  they  alone  understand  the 
needs  of  other  women  and  of  children.  Man  lacks  the  in 
stinct,  to  begin  with,  and  has  long  since  grown  callous  to 
the  sources  of  his  income.  Higher  wages  mean  smaller 
dividends,  and  he  chooses  to  close  his  eyes  to  the  fact  that 
his  dividends  are  largely  due  to  the  toil  of  wornout  women 
and  stunted  children ;  of  women  that  have  all  the  duties 
of  their  households  to  discharge  after  they  come  home  from 
the  mills,  children  whose  minds  must  remain  as  unde 
veloped  as  their  ill-nourished  bodies." 

"You  want  to  go  to  Parliament,  and  right  all  that,  I 
suppose?" 

"We  have  not  even  thought  of  it.  What  we  want  is  the 
power  to  send  men  to  Parliament,  who  will  be  forced  to 
keep  their  election  promises  if  they  would  be  returned  a 
second  time.  Doubtless  an  ultimate  result  of  the  ballot 
would  be  a  Woman's  Parliament  which  would  deal  exclu 
sively  with  the  Poor  Laws.  Then  the  men  who  oppose  us 
now  will  be  profoundly  relieved  that  they  no  longer  arc 
obliged  to  waste  valuable  hours  solemnly  sitting  upon  such 
questions  as  the  proper  sort  of  nursing  bottles  to  be  adopted 
for  pauper  children,  what  shall  be  done  with  milk,  or  whether 
cabbage  is  a  normal  breakfast  for  school  children.  Do 
you  know  that  if  the  House  sat  day  and  night  for  365  clays 
of  the  year,  they  could  not  begin  to  dispose  of  all  the  bills 
brought  before  it,  and  that  many  of  these  bills  are  of  a 
pressing  domestic  nature?  However  well  disposed,  they 
cannot  deal  adequately  with  the  Poor  Laws,  and  that  they 
do  not  welcome  the  assistance  of  women  is  but  one  more 
evidence  of  that  conservatism  in  men's  minds  which  is  a 
logical  result  of  having  had  their  own  way,  uncriticised,  too 
long.  Their  fear  of  us  is  childish.  They  would  not  be 


336  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

thrown  out  of  business.  Every  day  they  are  confronted 
by  questions  of  the  gravest  nature  —  questions  of  national 
and  international  policy  which  require  their  best  faculties 
and  all  of  their  time.  Women  have  more  time  than  man 
ever  thinks  he  has,  in  any  case ;  and  we  have  the  maternal 
instincts  and  the  nagging  conscience  which  would  force 
us  to  discharge  our  duties  to  the  poor. 

uLet  me  add  that  the  women  of  this  new  militant  move 
ment  have  eliminated  from  their  compositions  all  the  old 
sentimentality  and  bathos  which  weakened  the  Suffrage 
cause  for  so  many  years.  Sentimentality  is  sympathy  run 
amok.  It  roused  that  distrust  of  men  we  are  fighting  to 
day,  and  made  many  of  their  public  utterances  asinine. 
You  will  hear  no  frantic  protests  to-day  that  women  want 
the  vote  because  they  have  as  much  right  to  it  as  men.  That 
is  a  good  argument  in  itself,  but  the  women  of  to-day  have 
progressed  far  beyond  that  or  even  of  the  old  war  cry, 
(  Taxation  without  representation.'  They  are  animated, 
in  their  greater  experience,  by  one  purpose  only,  the  desire 
to  eliminate  poverty  and  all  the  evils,  moral  and  physical, 
that  are  always  its  partners;  to  reduce  the  hours  of  work 
and  increase  wages,  to  give  every  child  good  food,  a  decent 
education,  and  a  comfortable  home.  The  millions  must 
work,  but  we  are  determined  that  they  shall  work  for  their 
own  comfort  as  well  as  for  that  of  their  employers,  that 
they  shall  have  a  reasonable  amount  of  leisure  and  of  the 
pleasures  of  life,  cease  to  be  machines  whose  only  object 
in  living  is  to  contribute  to  the  comfort  and  idleness  of  the 
thousands  above  them.  We  appreciate  the  wastage  among 
the  poor  of  England.  Given  strong  bodies  and  a  fair  edu 
cation,  many  would  rise  in  the  world  and  have  respectable 
if  not  distinguished  careers.  What  we  further  desire  is  to 
give  these  exceptional  boys  and  girls  a  chance,  the  same 
chance  they  would  have  if  born  in  the  middle  class.  Beyond 
that  we  promise  nothing.  The  point  now  is,  not  only  that 
the  misery  in  this  country  is  appalling,  but  that  these  boys 
and  girls  have  no  chance  of  rising  out  of  the  rut  unless  pos 
sessed  of  positive  genius.  Hundreds  have  latent  talent, 


HADJI   SADRA  337 

thousands  a  certain  amount  of  ability  which  would  raise 
them  above  the  station  in  which  they  were  born  - 

"Are  you  a  Socialist?"  demanded  an  abrupt  voice. 

"Yes,  and  England  is  already  half  socialistic  in  her  in 
stitutions,  only  the  pill  has  been  gilded  with  less  offensive 
names,  so  that  she  need  not  recognize  it.  But  that  old- 
time  Socialism,  which  was  only  a  weak  step-sister  of  anarchy, 
no  longer  exists  save  in  the  minds  of  the  old  and  tired  the 
orists.  The  younger  men  and  women  who  are  giving  their 
brains  and  time  to  the  question  would  do  nothing  so  futile 
as  to  divide  the  wealth  of  the  world  into  small  and  equal 
shares.  The  modern  Socialists  would  have  as  little  mercy 
on  the  idle  and  vicious  and  lazy  as  Society  has.  All  must 
work,  and  if  the  confiscation  of  much  land  forces  the  aris 
tocrat  to  work,  so  much  the  better  for  him.  All  will  be 
given  the  chance  to  work,  to  rise.  More  than  that  no  mor 
tal  laws  can  accomplish,  or  should  attempt,  in  justice  to 
the  human  race.  Socialism  perfected  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  the  primal  law  of  Nature  reestablished,  rescued 
from  the  vagaries  of  a  blundering  civilization  and  crystal 
lized  into  brain.  Man  will  work,  do  his  share,  or  go  out 
into  the  by-ways,  lie  down  and  die. 

"A  word  as  to  our  much-abused  Militant  Tactics.  Al 
though  we  are  women  we  are  by  no  means  too  proud  to 
learn  from  men.  If  you  will  glance  back  to  that  time  when 
the  laboring  men  of  England  were  demanding  the  fran 
chise,  —  in  the  '30*5,  —  you  may  recall  that  they  did  not 
confine  themselves  to  heckling, .holding  indignation  meet 
ings,  forcing  their  way  into  halls  where  great  men  were 
speaking,  and  demanding  their  rights.  They  arose  and 
smashed  things.  They  burned  the  Mansion  House  in  Bristol, 
the  Custom  House,  the  Bishop's  Palace,  the  Excise  Office, 
three  prisons,  four  toll  jiouses,  and  forty-two  private  dwell 
ings,  and  they  set  several  towns  on  fire.  So  far  we  have 
borrowed  only  the  mildest  of  their  tactics.  We  have  hurt 
no  one  physically,  and  we  have  been  moderate  in  all  our 
demonstrations;  but.  because  we  are  women  we  are  as 
severely  criticised  as  if  we  had  blown  up  the  entire  Cabinet 
z 


338  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

and  set  fire  to  London.  Such  is  the  hopeless  conservatism 
of  the  human  mind.  But  because  we  are  women  and  en 
lightened,  we  hope  we  never  shall  have  to  resort  to  measures 
so  extreme.  We  hope  to  educate  the  average  mind  out  of 
its  conservatism.  If  we  fail,  then  of  course  we  shall  have 
to  forget  that  we  are  women  and  emulate  the  great  sex 
which  now  thinks  it  despises  us,  but  is  proving  every  day 
how  much  it  fears  us.  As  yet,  it  does  not  fear  us  enough. 
That  is  the  whole  trouble  at  present." 

Although  she  had  too  much  tact  and  experience  to  talk 
down  to  any  audience,  however  humble,  she  knew  when  to 
drop  the  abstract  and  divert  with  anecdote  and  illustration. 
Her  address  had  been  listened  to  respectfully,  and  inter 
rupted  with  many  a  "Hear!  Hear  !"  and  when  she  paused, 
flung  out  her  hands,  smiled,  and  said,  "Now  let  me  tell 
you  the  true  story  of  several  of  our  adventures  with  the 
police,"  they  clapped  and  cheered.  She  talked  for  ten  min 
utes  longer,  and  her  anecdotes,  while  making  them  laugh 
delightedly,  inspired  as  much  indignation  as  if  they  had 
been  delivered  with  solemn  passion;  no  doubt  more  so. 
When  she  finally  leaped  down,  they  escorted  her  in  a  body 
to  the  inn,  where  those  that  were  not  too  bashful  shook 
hands  with  her  heartily;  and  many  vowed  they  would 
"turn  it  over"  and  "pass  the  word  on"  to  those  that  had 
not  had  the  good  fortune  to  hear  her. 


XI 

JULIA,  excited,  and  well  content,  ran  up  to  her  room. 
As  she  opened  the  door  she  was  astonished  to  see  Briclgit 
Herbert  standing  at  the  window,  scowling  at  the  tomb 
stones. 

"You  !  How  jolly  !"  she  cried,  as  Mrs.  Herbert  turned. 
'*  How  did  you  trace  me  ?  I  purposely  left  no  word  - 

"You  forget  your  maid  - 

"What  is  the  matter?     You  look  -       Sit  down." 

"I've  come  north  to  see  you.     The  devil  is  to  pay." 

"The  Militants  haven't  disbanded  - 

"Good  lord,  no.  They're  all  right.  It's  I  that  have 
gone  clean  to  the  devil." 

"You?"  Julia  stared  at  her.  Mrs.  Herbert  certainly 
looked  worn,  even  haggard.  The  fresh  color  was  no  longer 
in  her  dark  face,  her  black  eyes  were  heavy  as  if  with  much 
wakefulness.  Even  her  spirited  nostrils  hung  limp. 

"Do  come  out  with  it !"  gasped  Julia. 

"I'm  in  love,"  said  Mrs.  Herbert.     And  she  sat  down. 

"Oh!"  exclaimed  Julia.  And  then  she  added  thought 
fully,  "What  a  bore." 

"Isn't  it?  And  I  thought  I  was  immune,  having  had 
the  disease  so  hard  the  first  time.  But  the  young  thirties  ! 
Oh,  lord!" 

"Can't  you  get  over  it?" 

"Can't  you  imagine  how  I've  tried?  That's  the  reason 
I  look  like  this.  It's  a  wonder  he  doesn't  run  when  he  sees 
me.  But  it's  no  use.  I'm  done  for." 

"What  sort  of  a  man  can  he  be  to  bowl  you  over?  Do 
I  know  him?" 

"Possibly.  He's  a  cousin  of  Geoff's,  although  I  never 
met  him  till  lately,  as  it  happened.  They  weren't  friends, 
and  he  was  away  nearly  all  the  time  I  was  coruscating  in 
society.  His  name's  Robert  Maundrcll ;  he's  also  a  cousin 

339 


340  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

of  Lord  Barnstaple,  who  married  that  beautiful  California!!. 
It  was  at  their  place,  Maundrcll  Abbey,  where  I  went  for  the 
Twelfth,  that  the  mischief  was  done.  I  met  him  at  Cannes, 
but  he  was  clever  enough  to  amuse  me  without  rousing 
my  suspicions ;  to  interest  me,  and  then  make  me  miss  him 
a  bit.  At  just  the  right  moment  he  reappeared  —  at  Maun- 
drell  Abbey  !  Heaven  !  but  it's  bad.  After  all  I've  gone 
through  for  the  cause,  after  standing  on  my  own  two  feet  for 
years,  not  giving  a  hang  if  all  the  men  on  earth  were  extermi 
nated  —  rather  wishing  they  were  !  I  feel  like  a  slave.  It's 
hideous  to  feel  that  you  no  longer  belong  to  yourself." 

"But  you  won't  chuck  the  cause?" 

"Rather  not.  But  the  trouble  is  that  I  thought  I  was 
made  on  the  same  pattern  as  those  women  up  in  London, 
desexed,  all  brain  and  nerve  and  religious  devotion  to  an 
ideal.  And  now  I'm  —  Oh,  lord  !  And  to  make  matters 
worse  I'm  marrying  a  man  who  cares  about  as  much  for  the 
cause  as  he  does  for  Mohammedanism.  Oh,  damn  !  And 
I  thought  myself  possessed  of  the  true  martyr's  fire.  I  won 
der  if  you  are?" 

"Bridgit!"  said  Julia,  with  equal  abruptness.  "Be 
quite  honest.  Did  you  never  think  of  this,  never  dream 
of  falling  in  love  once  more  —  of  the  real  thing?" 

Mrs.  Herbert  stood  up  and  thrust  her  hands  into  the 
pockets  of  her  covert  coat.  For  a  moment  she  glared  at 
Julia,  then  shrugged  her  shoulders.  "Well  —  I  don't 
fancy  I  admitted  it  at  the  time  —  but  I  also  fancy  it  was 
in  the  back  of  my  head  more  or  less.  Oh  —  here  goes  - 
I  used  to  wake  up  in  the  night  and  wonder  in  a  sort  of  fury 
where  lie  was  —  what  are  you  laughing  at  ?" 

"Oh,  I  fancy  we  idiots  are  all  alike." 

"So  you've  been  through  it,  too?  Good.  But  you'll 
probably  win  out.  You've  got  the  ruthless  will,  like  those 
others.  Oh  !  I  worship  the  very  air  they  breathe.  They 
are  the  true  women  of  destiny,  equipped  at  every  point,  a 
new  sex.  And  I  —  the  worst  of  it  is,  when  I  did  give  my 
fancy  rein  it  was  to  imagine  a  man  who  would  be  a  great 
intellectual  force  in  the  world,  a  great  editor  or  statesman  to 


HADJI   SADRA  341 

whom  men  deferred,  who  would  fight  single-handed,  if 
necessary,  to  give  the  vote  to  women.  I  shouldn't  have 
cared  a  bit  if  he  had  sprung  from  the  people.  Should  have 
rather  liked  it,  as  I'd  have  felt  the  more  consistent.  But  - 
well,  we  make  ideals  out  of  imported  cloth,  and  then  we  marry 
our  own  sort.  I  fancy  Nature  takes  a  hand  in  manipulating 
our  instincts.  Oh,  lord  !"  And  she  began  pacing  up  and 
down  the  room. 

"  You  haven't  told  me  anything  about  Mr.  Maundrell. 
He  can't  be  a  fool  - 

"Rather  not!" 

"What  attracted  you  to  him?  I  don't  fancy  I  ever  met 
him—" 

"You'd  remember  him  if  you  had.  He's  beastly  good- 
looking,  and  he's  travelled  and  explored,  and  is  as  well- 
read  as  any  man  I  ever  met.  He  went  out  as  a  volunteer 
in  the  South  African  war  and  got  three  medals,  one  with 
clasps.  Now  he's  standing  for  Parliament  —  at  a  by-elec 
tion  next  week.  Oh,  he's  all  right,  as  the  Americans  say, 
only  he  doesn't  care  a  hang  for  Suffrage  - 

"He'll  make  you  desert  us  - 

"No,  he  won't.  I  may  be  an  ass,  as  the  man  said  in 
'The  Liars,'  but  I'm  not  a  silly  ass.  If  he  were  as  bad  as 
that,  I'd  have  been  strong  enough  to  resist  him.  No,  he's 
big  in  all  his  ideas.  He  only  exacts  the  promise  that  I  shall 
take  part  in  no  more  raids,  run  no  further  risk  of  gaol,  and 
not  make  engagements  that  would  separate  us.  Other 
wise,  I  can  speak  in  public,  and  give  up  every  moment  of 
my  time  to  Suffrage  when  he  is  not  at  home.  He  will  also 
vote  for  our  bill  when  it  comes  up." 

"It's  not  so  bad." 

"Oh,  it  could  be  worse.  But  I  wish  I'd  met  him  when 
I  was  eighteen,  or  had  proved  my  strength  by  rooting 
this  out,  or  had  never  met  him  at  all.  I'd  have  preferred 
the  second,  for  I  gloried  in  my  strength.  I'm  not  one  of 
the  chosen,  like  those  women  up  there.  That's  what 
rankles.  I  wonder  if  you  are  !" 

She  sat  down  abruptly  and  leaned  forward.     "I  wonder  ? 


342  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

You've  beauty.  There's  the  rub.  They  won't  let  us  alone. 
They  give  us  the  chance." 

"Tell  me/'  said  Julia,  hastily,  "how  did  he  ever  make 
you  consent?  He  must  have  had  a  difficult  wooing." 

"He  almost  shook  his  fist  in  my  face,  if  you  will  know; 
swore  he'd  have  me  if  he  had  to  beat  me  into  submission  — 
oh,  worse  !  He  didn't  frighten  me,  but  he  fascinated  me. 
If  the  primal  woman  is  born  in  you,  there  she  is  for  good 
and  all.  I  had  the  haunting  sense  that  this  man  was  my 
mate,  the  other  half  of  me,  and  when  a  woman  gets  that 
idea  into  her  head  she's  done  for.  It's  more  than  passion, 
more  than  any  longing  for  companionship.  All  sorts  of 
subtle  chords  vibrate,  inheritances  from  all  the  women, 
complex  and  simple,  that  have  contributed  to  her  brain  cells. 
When  those  chords  begin  to  hum  you're  done  for.  I'm 
not  one  of  the  chosen,  that's  all  there  is  to  it.  I've  got  to 
marry  and^be  happy." 

And  then  they  both  laughed. 

In  a  moment  Julia  said  grimly,  "The  only  thing  to  do  is 
to  set  your  ideal  of  man  so  high  that  no  mortal  can  fill  it." 

"Rot.  When  the  man  comes  along  that  can  set  those 
chords  humming,  ideals  fly  off  in  company  with  good  reso 
lutions.  Now  tell  me  your  experience.  You've  had  one 
of  some  sort.  It's  only  fair  you  should  tell  me.  I've  ad 
mired  you  more  than  any  living  woman,  and  I'd  feel  bet 
ter  if  I  could  admire  you  less.  You  look  ruthless,  and 
you've  had  a  good  training  to  make  you  so  —  I  used  to  re 
joice  at  it  —  but,  well,  you  are  young  and  beautiful  and 
you've  red  hair.  Out  with  it." 

Julia,  who  under  all  her  careless  frankness,  was  intensely 
reserved,  colored  and  hesitated;  but  this  exasperated  baring 
of  her  haughty  friend's  inner  self  merited  response,  and 
she  told  the  tale  of  her  sudden  awakening  in  India,  of 
her  deliberate  search  for  a  lover.  Mrs.  Herbert  nodded 
triumphantly. 

"But  you  see,"  added  Julia,  "I  couldn't  find  him,  be 
cause  I  wanted  too  much.  They  all  made  me  laugh  sooner 
or  later,  and  a  finer  set  of  men  I  never  met.  They  are  all 


HADJI   SADRA  343 

picked  men  out  there,  so  to  speak.  They  must  be  almost 
perfect  physically,  or  they  couldn't  stand  the  climate ;  they 
are  absolutely  without  fear ;  they  have  every  manly  quali 
fication,  in  fact,  and  quite  enough  brains.  Many  were 
charming.  But  they  all  seemed  to  melt  into  one  composite 
man  and  made  no  deeper  impression  on  me  than  if  they 
were  a  statue  erected  to  the  glorification  of  British  man 
hood.  One  can't  marry  that." 

"All  the  men  in  the  world  are  not  in  India.  How  about 
Nigel?" 

"I  like  him  better  than  anyone,  but  I  can't  fall  in  love 
with  him.  I  don't  fancy  I'd  have  the  chance  again  even 
if  I  wanted  it.  He's  now  the  head  of  his  house  and  the 
last  of  it,  and  he  takes  his  duties  as  a  Whig  peer  with  So 
cialist  tendencies  very  seriously.  To  marry  me  would  put 
an  end  to  his  public  usefulness,  for  he  would  have  to  live 
out  of  England.  When  a  man  of  Nigel's  sort  reaches  his 
age  he  faces  his  responsibilities,  and  when  he  balances  them 
against  a  love-marriage  that  would  cut  him  off  from  a  good 
half  of  them  he  keeps  out  of  temptation.  I  like  him  all  the 
better  for  it,  and  if  I  had  not  become  almost  depersonalized 
in  this  cause,  the  woman  in  me  might  - 

"I  don't  think  it's  Nigel,  but  I  do  believe  that  one  day 
you'll  have  a  battle  to  fight  - 

" Not  now.  For  a  few  days  after  I  came  back  from  India, 
perhaps.  But  I  doubt  if  I  ever  have  time  again  even  to 
think  of  it.  When  I'm  not  talking,  or  speaking,  or  writing, 
I  deliberately  relax,  as  my  master  taught  me,  and  that 
banishes  thought.  Every  morning  —  during  my  walk  - 
I  recall  some  bit  of  the  knowledge  I  was  taught  by  Hadji 
Saclra,  and  I  could  do  this  if  my  mind  were  excited,  threat 
ened  with  a  deluge.  Oh,  I  have  had  discipline  of  all  sorts  !" 

"It  sounds  formidable  enough.  Perhaps  you  are  one  of 
the  chosen.  But  - 

"I  even  wrote  a  long  letter  this  morning  to  a  man  I  might 
say  I  don't  know,"  continued  Julia,  now  in  the  full  tide  of 
self-revelation.  "And  it  interested  me  mightily  for  the 
moment  - 


344  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"Ha!" 

"Not  at  all.  He  was  a  boy  of  fifteen  when  I  met  him  at 
Bosquith.  I  had  forgotten  his  existence,  but  when  I  heard 
of  the  frightful  disaster  in  San  Francisco,  his  home,  I  thought 
it  only  decent  to  write  to  him.  Of  course  he  answered,  and 
as  his  letter  was  lost  for  months  —  I  only  got  it  yesterday 
-  and  as  he  really  has  been  through  a  tragic  experience  - 
he  lost  his  fortune,  and  just  missed  losing  his  life  —  it  was 
the  least  I  could  do  to  write  again." 

"H'm.  There's  nothing  more  fascinating  than  a  cor 
respondence  with  a  man  you  don't  know.  I've  had  one  or 
two.  The  saving  grace  is,  that  you  are  always  disappointed 
when  you  meet  them.  They  are  commonplace,  if  only  by 
contrast  with  the  arbitrary  figure  in  your  imagination. 
But  it's  a  bad  sign  —  or  a  healthy  one  —  that  you  can  be 
interested  even  to  that  extent  while  conducting  a  Suffrage 
campaign  with  the  fury  of  the  martyr  in  your  soul  -  I 
can't  imagine  any  of  those  women  up  there  - 

"It  means  nothing  to  me!"  said  Julia,  angrily.  "And 
if  I  hadn.'t  posted  my  letter,  I'd  tear  it  up.  I  don't  care  in 
the  least  whether  I  ever  see  him  again  or  not.  And  I 
probably  .won't,  for  I  wrote  of  nothing  but  the  cause.  I 
couldn't  think  of  anything  else.  He'll  hate  that.  Be 
sides,  he  can't  leave  California  for  years  yet.  You  know 
what  those  American  business  men  are.  He's  keen  on 
making  his  millions.  That's  all  he  thinks  of." 

"Good.  See  that  you  don't  go  to  California  when  they 
send  you  over  to  lecture.  Let  me  see  his  letter?" 

Julia  made  an  instinctive,  almost  tigerish,  and  wholly 
traditional  movement  toward  her  bosom.  Then  she  re 
membered  that  the  letter  was  in  the  hand-bag,  laughed, 
and  produced  it. 

"Why  not?" 

Mrs.  Herbert's  black  eyes  flashed  through  it. 

"H'm  !"  she  commented.  "He  seems  to  be  a  jolly  sort. 
He's  a  man.  And  there's  a  sort  of  fresh  Western  breeze 
in  his  letter.  I  can  smell  and  hear  the  Pacific  —  and  see 
those  wonderful  ruins.  I  love  that  expression --' makes 
the  Roman  Forum  look  like  thirty  cents.'  That's  fifteen 


HADJI   SADRA  345 

pence  —  one  and  three.  It's  not  effective  at  all  translated. 
But  I've  always  liked  American  slang.  There's  something 
big  and  free  and  young  about  it.  And  so  is  this  man,  I 
should  say  - 

"Oh,  nonsense!  Don't  romance  about  him,  please.  He's 
the  antithesis  of  the  man  I'd  made  up  in  my  imagination 
when  I  bolted  from  Calcutta  - 

"That  makes  just  about  as  much  difference  as  if  I  had 
made  up  my  mind  that  Robert  Maundrell  should  fall  in 
love  with  somebody  else.  Mr.  Tay  may  give  your  ideal 
one  in  the  eye  that  will  make  it  look  like  —  thirty  cents. 
Describe  him  to  me.  Is  he  good-looking?" 

"I  don't  know,"  said  Julia,  crossly.  "I've  forgotten. 
He  was  a  dark  wiry  boy  with  a  lean  face  and  a  square 
jaw.  He  suggests  the  North  American  Indian,  but  is 
a  new  type  altogether — Western  American,  no  doubt. 
But  I'd  rather  talk  about  you.  You've  disappointed  me, 
but  I  don't  see  why  you  should  be  quite  so  cut  up  about  it. 
Ishbel  is  married  and  in  love  and  has  two  babies,  but  she 
has  come  out  as  an  ardent  suffragette ;  so  much  so  that  her 
business  has  suffered  - 

"Yes,  but  she  marches  in  no  parades,  and  takes  part  in 
no  raids.  Dark  will  stand  for  a  good  deal,  but  he's  threat 
ened  to  go  to  India  if  she  goes  too  far;  and  she  won't. 
Trust  her.  She's  just  like  any  other  woman  in  love.  And 
Dark's  a  good  fellow,  not  the  sort  a  woman  would  care  to 
sacrifice.  So  is  Robert.  There  you  are." 

"I  love  Ishbel  as  much  as  ever,"  said  Julia,  thoughtfully. 
"But  somehow  I  don't  find  her  as  interesting  - 

"A  happy  woman  has  no  psychology  in  her.  Her  mind 
may  go  on  developing,  but  her  ego  is  at  a  standstill.  That's 
where  I'm  aiming  !  And  I  wanted  to  stand  alone  !  I'm 
not  the  myself  I  thought.  That's  what  cuts.  After  those 
six  men  mauled  me  and  broke  my  rib,  and  I  lay  in  that 
wretched  prison  all  night,  I  thought  I  was  seasoned  for  life. 
And  I  wasn't!" 

Julia  sprang  to  her  feet.  "What's  the  use  of  worrying 
about  what  can't  be  helped?"  she  cried  angrily.  "Let's 
go  down  to  supper." 


XII 

A  FORTNIGHT  later  Julia  was  recalled  to  London.  She 
took  a  small  flat  in  Clement's  Inn,  Strand,  where  the 
W.  S.  P.  U.  was  about  to  establish  itself.  She  learned  imme 
diately  that  on  the  first  day  of  the  autumn  session  of  Parlia 
ment  a  deputation  of  women  intended  to  go  to  the  Lobby 
of  the  House  and  send  word  to  the  Prime  Minister  that  they 
expected  some  assurance  from  him  regarding  the  prospects 
of  franchise  for  their  sex.  Hundreds  would  await  the  news 
without. 

By  this  time  there  was  no  danger  of  any  definite  move 
by  the  women  being  overlooked  by  the  press,  and  they  were 
treated  as  news  no  matter  with  what  lack  of  sympathy.  As 
to  be  spectacular  whenever  the  opportunity  offered  was  a 
part  of  their  policy,  they  overlooked  no  means  to  that  end ; 
quite  aware  that  Julia  was  as  valuable  an  asset  as  they  were 
likely  to  have,  she  was  drafted  to  make  one  of  the  deputation 
to  the  House  of  Commons  on  October  third.  By  this  time 
other  women  of  the  aristocracy  had  flocked  to  their  stand 
ard,  and  several  prominent  in  the  arts,  but  Julia  had  a  very 
special  personality,  and  a  value  for  the  press  which  insured 
her  a  separate  " story"  whether  or  not  she  were  the  chief 
figure  in  any  of  the  carefully  rehearsed  scenes  executed  by 
the  Militants.  Therefore,  having  received  her  instructions 
for  the  third,  she  called  on  the  duke  the  night  of  the  second. 
She  had  not  heard  from  him  since  the  letter  received  at 
Keighley,  nor  had  she  heard  from  his  solicitors. 

The  duke  was  in  the  library  and  rose  ceremoniously  as 
she  was  shown  in,  but  did  not  oiler  his  hand.  Julia  took 
the  same  chair  from  which  she  had  defied  him  in  a  period 
of  her  life  that  now  seemed  identical  with  a  lost  personality. 

"I  should  have  called  long  ago,"  she  said,  "but  you 
were  at  Bosquith  when  I  returned  from  Syria,  and  I  have 
been  out  of  London  ever  since." 

346 


HADJI   SADRA  347 

"I  am  quite  aware  of  your  movements  during  the  past 
five  months."  The  duke  spoke  with  all  his  innate  formal 
ity,  and  infused  his  tone  with  icy  sarcasm,  but  Julia  had 
detected  in  a  glance  that  he  looked  far  more  of  a  human 
being  than  of  old.  Bridgit  had  told  her  a  strange  tale  of 
riding  over  to  see  her  "Aunt  Peg  "  when  that  dame  was 
suffering  from  a  broken  leg,  and  catching  a  glimpse  of  the 
duke  in  an  adjoining  room,  flat  on  the  floor,  with  his  boy 
and  two  little  girls  racing  up  and  down  his  small  but  sacred 
person.  Julia  had  accused  Mrs.  Herbert  of  trying  to  im 
pose  on  her  credulity,  but  as  she  inspected  that  meagre 
countenance  she  found  it  decidedly  less  gray  and  tight  than 
formerly,  the  eyes  brighter,  the  prim  lines  of  the  mouth 
relaxed.  Yes;  he  was,  conceivably,  the  uxorious  parent. 

"Of  course  I  know  you  must  hate  what  I  am  doing.  If 
you  and  thousands  like  you  didn't  hate  it,  we  shouldn't  be 
doing  it,  if  you  don't  mind  a  bull.  But  that  is  the  point, 
you  see.  We  intend  to  fight  to  the  last  ditch,  and  then 
win.  You  don't  guess  this  and  so  you  prolong  the  fight. 
I  haven't  come  to  convert  you,  but  because  I  know  exactly 
how  you  feel.  You  have  behaved  splendidly  toward  me, 
for  I  know  you  have  longed,  for  months,  to  recall  your  gen 
erous  allowance.  You  can't  make  up  your  mind  to 
violate  your  word,  so  I  have  come  to  renounce  it  my 
self." 

"Ah  !"  The  duke  rose  and  began  pacing  up  and  down 
the  room.  ."Yes  —  you  would  suspect  —  you  are  clever 
enough.  Ah  !  If  you  would  only  divert  your  cleverness 
into  a  respectable  channel.  How  could  you  go  off  your 
head  about  this  atrocious  nonsense?" 

"Nonsense?  Come  down  to  Clement's  Inn  and  talk 
to  the  women  for  a  few  minutes.  You  might  not  approve 
of  us  any  more  than  you  do  now,  but  you  would  no  longer 
use  the  word  nonsense.  You  might  hate,  but  you  would 
be  forced  to  respect  - 

"Respect?  Respect  women  that  have  parted  with  the 
last  shred  of  female  decency,  that  are  distracting  this  poor 
country  with  their  puerile  demands,  when  she  is  faced  by 


348  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

such  grave  problems  within  and  without  that  we  need  every 
ounce  of  our  energy,  every  moment  of  our  time  — 

"  Quite  so.  That  is  one  of  our  staple  arguments.  We  are 
only  asking  to  help  you.  Turn  the  Poor  Laws  over  to  us, 
with  the  ballot,  and  you  will  have  that  much  more  time  and 
energy  to  devote  to  the  survival  of  the  House  of  Lords, 
and  to  the  survival  of  Great  Britain  among  nations." 

"And  have  a  new  and  worse  problem  on  our  hands  to 
distract  us  !  It  is  bad  enough  now  with  half  female  Eng 
land  gone  mad  and  making  this  great  Empire  ridiculous 
in  the  eyes  of  the  world  —  do  you  fancy  we  are  mad  enough 
even  to  argue  the  question  of  giving  you  power?  Never. 
You  can  raid  the  House  of  Commons  and  force  your  way 
into  the  house  of  the  Prime  Minister,  and  fight  with  the 
police  and  go  to  gaol,  and  shriek  and  parade,  until  the  day 
of  doom,  and  you'll  be  no  nearer  your  object  than  you  are 
to-day.  That  is  what  has  made  me  lose  all  patience  with 
you.  I  trained  your  mind,  I  watched  you  grow  under  my 
roof  into  as  intellectual  a  woman  as  is  possible  with  the 
limitations  of  the  female  brain  ;  I  guided  you  in  your  study 
of  politics,  and,  save  when  you  took  the  wrong  side  out  of 
sheer  perversity,  I  was  quite  satisfied  with  you.  And  now  ! 
It  has  saddened  and  angered  me  beyond  description  to  see 
you  making  a  public  spectacle  of  yourself,  suffering  bodily 
injury,  disgracing  yourself,  your  sex,  and  your  country,  in 
a  ridiculous  and  hopeless  cause." 

"Well,  you  see,  we  don't  believe  it  to  be  hopeless,  and 
that  sustains  us." 

"What  difference  does  it  make  what  you  believe?" 

"Not  so  much  now,  except  as  a  means  to  an  end.  You 
said  a  moment  ago  that  we  had  lost  every  shred  of  female 
decency,  in  other  words,  forgotten  that  we  were  mere 
women.  Does  not  that  strike  you  as  portentous?" 

"It  strikes  me  as  hideous." 

"I  mean  that  when  women  have  been  battered  and 
mauled  and  hurt,  as  we  have  been,  without  a  second's  loss 
of  courage  or  resource;  when  we  have  not  once  failed  to 
score  every  point  we  have  preconceived,  from  the  heckling 


HADJI   SADRA 

of  candidates  half  out  of  their  senses,  to  arresting  the  gaze 
of  the  civilized  world,  —  doesn't  it  strike  you  that  we  may 
be  something  more  than  mere  women  ?  " 

"Yes,  fools,  and  shameless  ones." 

"Well,  I  share  Nigel  Herbert's  theory,  that  we  are  a  new 
sex  and  a  new  race.  A  new  force  let  loose  into  the  world, 
is  how  he  expressed  it.  When  I  went  north  five  months 
ago  the  Union  in  London  numbered  only  a  few  hundreds. 
Now  it's  as  well  known  as  the  Liberal  party.  And  all  of  the 
new  active  members  have  the  same  set  grim  intent  look, 
although  many  are  still  in  their  teens.  I  believe  they  were 
born  that  way  and  only  waited  for  the  call.  Not  one  of 
them  looks  as  if  she  had  ever  given  a  thought  to  a  lover  - 

"And  you  extol  them  for  that  ?" 

"No,  I  merely  mention  it.  You  see,  all  revolutions  de 
mand  and  breed  their  martyrs ;  people  who  were  born,  so 
to  speak,  to  fight  and  die  in  that  cause  and  for  no  other 
purpose  whatever.  Hundreds  of  thousands  will  join  us  as 
converts,  but  only  a  limited  number  will  join  the  fighting 
army.  That  sort  of  thing  is  in  a  woman  or  it  isn't.  Many 
will  help  us  with  money  and  name  and  sympathy,  vote  when 
their  time  comes,  and  cheerfully  accept  such  political  duties 
as  may  be  thrust  upon  them,  but  they  are  too  soft,  what  you 
call  too  womanly,  to  fight.  We  make  no  complaint.  The 
race  must  go  on  and  these  women  may  be  depended  upon  to 
take  care  of  it.  But  all  these  girls  that  are  flocking  to  our 
standard,  that  speak  to  jeering  crowds  on  street  corners, 
that  are  hustled  and  twisted  and  pinched  by  policemen  - 
when  they  interrupt  meetings,  or  sell  literature  on  the  street 
-  they  are  made  of  different  elements,  they  are  the  ones 
chosen  to  win  a  cause,  not  to  enjoy  its  victory.  What 
matters  it  to  them  whether  they  are  maimed  for  life, 
whether  their  youth  goes  before  they  have  known  any  of  its 
rights?  Nothing.  It  is  not  of  the  least  consequence.  We 
sacrifice  them  as  ruthlessly  as  they  sacrifice  themselves, 
as  we  would  sacrifice  ourselves.  It  is  only  the  principle 
that  matters.  Let  them  die  in  a  good  cause,  and  be  grate 
ful  for  the  opportunity.  So  they  would,  if  they  gave  even 


350  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

that  much  thought  to  self.  That  is  what  you  cannot  under 
stand.  If  you  did,  you  would  know  what  I  mean  by  the 
word  portentous  — 

"How  do  you  like  the  prospect  of  looking  like  those 
women  —  gray  and  dingy  as  the  bark  of  an  old  tree  ?" 

"Oh,  they  don't  all  look  gray  and  dingy.  We  have  hand 
some  women  in  the  W.  S.  P.  U.  —  several  that  are  older  than 
I.  Many  women  are  born  dingy.  Others  have  merely  that 
freshness  of  youth  which  is  as  likely  to  vanish  after  one 
year  of  domestic  life,  as  after  the  same  time  spent  in  fighting 
for  a  cause  that  will  improve  the  lot  of  women  in  general. 
Don't  worry  about  me.  What  looks  I  have  are  indistruc- 
tible.  I  learned  secrets  in  the  East.  I  know  how  to  rest  - 
a  lesson  many  of  these  young  enthusiasts  wouldn't  learn  if 
I  could  teach  them.  They  are  screwed  up  to  be  martyrs 
and  won't  have  anything  else.  But  the  heads  of  any  move 
ment  must  be  all  that  and  more,  so  I  have  no  intention  of 
going  to  pieces." 

"I  am  told  that  if  —  I  —  a  —  withdraw  the  seven  hun 
dred  and  fifty  I  have  allowed  you,  you  may  be  persuaded  to 
go  to  work  on  a  newspaper  or  make  money  in  some  other 
way  -  I  understand  you  give  the  greater  part  of  your 
income  to  this  abominable  cause  - 

"Yes.  I  know  how  you  must  feel  about  that.  I  made 
sure  you  would  withdraw  it  before  this  — 

"I  have  tried  to !  I  have  been  on  the  point  of  writing 
to  my  solicitors  twenty  times.  But  it  would  be  the  first 
time  in  my  life  that  I  had  ever  broken  my  word,  taken  back 
what  I  had  given,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  make  up 
my  mind  to  do  it." 

"  I  know,  so  I  shall  do  it  for  you.  I'll  write  to  your  solici 
tors  to-morrow.  I  shall  still  have  two  hundred  a  year,  and 
I  am  sure  now  that  I  can  make  money  - 

"Make  money!  It  is  sickening.  Women  of  our  class 
don't  talk  about  making  money." 

"No,  but  a  good  many  of  them  would  make  it  if  they 
could,  and  more  than  you  know  turn  an  honest  penny  - 

"  Oh,  let  me  keep  my  illusions  ! "     The  duke  flung  himself 


HADJI   SADRA  351 

into  a  chair  and  grasped  the  arms.  "Can  you  imagine 
what  it  is  to  me  to  see  my  great  country  going  to  the  dogs  ? 
Socialism,  democracy,  the  daily  increasing  power  of  a  class 
that  in  my  youth  knew  its  place  and  kept  it  ?  And  now 
women  degrading  their  sex  and  proselytizing  thousands 
that  would  have  remained  content  with  their  duties  to 
home  and  society  if  let  alone!  Why,  you  hear  nothing  but 
this  infernal  Suffrage  -  The  duke  was  never  so  impres 
sive  as  when  mildly  profane.  "Margaret,  of  course,  is 
unaffected,  but  the  women  that  gather  at  my  board  ! 
They  babble  about  nothing  else,  whether  for  or  against.  To 
my  mind  the  very  subject  among  all  decent  people  should 
be  tabu.  I  sometimes  feel  as  if  I  could  hear  the  greatest 
nation  the  world  has  ever  seen  rattling  about  my  ears.  My 
poor  country  !  And  I  would  have  her  impeccable  always 
in  the  eyes  of  Europe  -  '  (It  was  characteristic  that  he 
omitted  the  rest  of  the  world).  "I  would  have  her  lower 
and  middle  classes  respect  her  unquestioningly,  without 
presuming  to  rule.  The  present  Government  is  an  abomina 
tion,  and  the  number  of  labor  representatives  in  Parliament 
is  a  disgrace  in  the  history  of  England.  And  now  the 
women  !  They  should  have  pity  on  our  troubles  and  give 
us  their  assistance,  instead  of  adding  to  our  problems  and 
making  us  ridiculous.  A  fine  reputation  we  are  getting 
abroad  —  that  we  can  no  longer  manage  our  women,  that 
we  are  obliged  to  resort  to  physical  violence,  as  if  we  were 
returned  to  the  dark  ages !  Oh,  that  we  could  shut  them 
up  in  harems  !  Let  the  Turks  take  warning." 

"Well,  you  can't  shut  us  up,  and  you  can't  manage  us,  and 
that  is  the  whole  point.  English  women  have  grown  up 
on  politics ;  they  have  learned  as  much  at  the  table  as  in 
the  schoolroom;  the  bright  ones  have  grown  more  and 
more  like  their  fathers,  and  now  you  behold  the  result. 
As  for  the  Mohammedan  women  —  Ferrero  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  the  British  in  India  have  noted  that  in  pub 
lic  administration  certain  women  keep  the  spirit  of  economy 
with  which  they  manage  a  home;  and  that  is  why,  espe 
cially  in  despotic  states,  they  rule  better  than  men.  So, 


352  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

give  us,  who  have  had  a  vastly  wider  experience,  the  vote, 
and  be  grateful  that  we  are  willing  to  help  you." 

"  Never.  You  will  never  obtain  the  franchise.  Put  that 
idea  out  of  your  head.  Why  not  go  and  live  on  the  conti 
nent  for  a  while  ?  The  society  in  Vienna  is  delightful  - 

Julia  rose.  "  I've  said  all  I  came  to  say,  and  more.  I  am 
very  grateful  for  your  generosity  in  the  past,  and  I  only 
wished  to  disabuse  your  mind  of  any  fear  you  might  have 
of  subjecting  me  to  privations.  I  shall  manage  splendidly. 
I  pay  very  little  for  my  flat  in  Clement's  Inn  - 

The  duke  writhed.  "I  can't  do  it !"  he  cried.  "I  can't! 
I  gave  you  my  word,  and  that  is  the  end  of  it.  Besides, 
you  lived  with  me  so  long  that  you  are,  in  a  sense,  of  my 
house.  Keep  the  money,  but  for  heaven's  sake,  come  to 
your  senses.  I  only  ask  one  favor  now.  Take  no  part  in 
these  disgraceful  raids  and  street  scenes." 

Julia  hesitated,  but  she  was  betraying  no  secret,  for  the 
women  never  struck  without  warning.  "I'd  like  to  thank 
you,  go,  and  say  no  more,  but  I  think  I  should  tell  you  that 
a  number  of  us  are  going  to  attend  the  opening  of  Parlia 
ment  to-morrow  and  demand  a  hearing.  Of  course,  there 
may  be  trouble  with  the  police  - 

11 Do  you  mean  that  those  termagants  will  begin  to  worry 
us  on  the  very  first  day  of  Parliament?" 

"  We  lose  no  time.  We'll  get  in  if  we  can,  and  if  we  can't 
—  well,  we'll  make  ourselves  felt,  one  way  or  another." 

«I  __  I'd  be  grateful  if  you  would  give  me  your  promise 
to  stay  at  home." 

"  You  see  I  have  given  my  promise  to  go  to  the  House. 

"The  police  will  certainly  interfere.  I  fancy  they  will 
take  the  first  opportunity  -  That  is  only  a  hint." 

"Oh,  we  are  quite  convinced  that  the  police  have  their 
orders '  from  the  Government.  But  we  mind  nothing. 
Nothing  !  At  the  same  time  let  me  tell  you  that  we  are  not 
going  to-morrow  with  the  intention  of  creating  a  disturb 
ance.  We  are  not  in  love  with  rows,  and  although  we  are 
willing  to  be  hurt,  we  are  not  in  love  with  that,  either.  How 
we  behave  depends  entirely  upon  how  they  behave." 


HADJI  SADRA  353 

The  duke  regarded  her  for  a  minute.  Then  he  looked 
down  and  tapped  a  penholder  on  the  table.  "Very  well," 
he  said.  "Go  with  the  others,  I  only  trust  and  pray - 
I  intercede  for  you  every  morning  at  prayers  —  that  you 
won't  be  accidentally  hurt  in  these  forays,  and  that  you 
will  come  to  your  senses  before  long.  As  soon  as  you  do 
we  should  be  happy  to  have  you  come  and  live  with  us. 
I  —  I  have  always  missed  you." 

He  rose.  Julia  ran  over  and  threw  her  arms  about  his 
neck.  "You  are  a  dear!"  she  cried.  "And  you  always 
were  nice  to  me  in  your  funny  way." 

The  duke  laughed,  and  disentangled  himself. 

"There,  there  !"  he  said.  "You  look  now  about  as  old 
as  you  did  when  you  came  to  us.  You  are  not  quite  re 
made.  I  shall  hope." 


2A 


XIII 

"  Corker.  Please  write  often.  Hearing  from  you  too 
good  to  be  true.  Letters  like  what  rain  would  have  been 
on  April  16.  Suffrage  and  get  over  it.  No  game  for  you. 
Don't  get  hurt  again.  Writing. 

"TAY.'1- 

Julia  found  this  cablegram  on  her  table  when  she  returned 
on  the  following  evening  from  the  House  of  Commons. 
Its  extravagance  relaxed  the  angry  tension  of  her  mind,  and 
she  could  imagine  no  future  moment  in  which  she  would 
be  in  a  more  fitting  mood  to  answer  it.  She  removed  her 
battered  hat,  washed  the  dirt  and  blood  from  her  hands 
and  face,  and  her  pen  was  soon  flying  over  large  sheets  of 
the  W.  S.  P.  U. 

"Long  before  you  get  this  you  will  have  read  in  the  news 
papers  the  more  sensational  details  of  to-day's  encounter 
between  the  Militants  and  the  police,  and  of  its  abomi 
nable  sequel;  but  there  are  details  the  newspapers  never 
print,  and  when  I  relate  a  few  of  them  perhaps  you  will 
understand  why  I  am  not  likely  to  lose  sympathy  with  this 
cause.  Besides,  to-day,  I  have  a  grievance  of  my  own 
which  has  put  me  in  such  a'state  of  fury  that  if  I  couldn't 
relieve  my  mind  in  a  letter  to  you,  I  should  probably  go  out 
and  get  into  more  trouble. 

"  You  will  have  read  that  twenty  of  our  number,  including 
Mrs.  Pankhurst,  Mrs.  Pethick  Lawrence,  and  Mrs.  Cobden 
Sanderson,  succeeded  in  obtaining  entrance  to  the  Lobby 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  sent  for  the  Chief  Liberal  Whip, 
and  persuaded  him  to  go  to  the  Prime  Minister  and  ask 
if  he  .intended  to  do  anything  during  this  session  toward 
the  enfranchisement  of  women.  The  Prime  Minister  sent 

354 


HADJI   SADRA  355 

word  back  that  the  Government  had  no  intention  of  giving 
the  vote  to  women  during  their  term  of  office. 

"How  many  times  have  they  gone  to  that  Lobby  full  of 
hope,  inspired  by  the  justice  of  their  cause  —  however, 
sentimentalizing  is  not  in  our  line.  This  was  the  most 
direct  rebuff  they  had  received,  and  they  made  up  their 
minds  to  hold  a  meeting  of  protest  then  and  there.  One 
of  the  women  sprang  upon  a  settee  and  began  to  address  the 
others.  The  police  had  been  watching  for  a  signal.  In 
five  minutes  they  had  dragged  and  driven  the  women  out 
of  the  Lobby,  knocking  Mrs.  Pankhurst  down,  and  mauling 
Mrs.  Lawrence  and  the  rest  in  their  usual  fashion.  When 
the  women  waiting  dutside  saw  how  their  comrades  were 
being  handled,  they  rushed  forward,  and  soon  were  engaged 
in  a  hand-to-hand  encounter  with  the  police.  Even  those 
that  merely  spoke  to  the  women  of  the  deputation  were 
struck  or  arrested.  Seven  were  dragged  off  to  the  police 
station,  and  a  few  moments  later,  Mrs.  Cobden  Sanderson, 
knowing  that  Mrs.  Lawrence  was  ill,  and  not  willing  that 
the  girls  should  go  to  gaol  without  an  older  woman,  managed 
to  get  herself  arrested. 

"Of  course,  you  want  to  know  what  I  was  doing  all  this 
time.  That  is  what  I  am  writing  to  tell  you,  for  therein 
lies  my  grievance.  And  let  me  tell  you  that  I  have  a  red- 
haired  temper,  quite  out  of  tune  with  princesses  on  towers. 
You  might  as  well  know  me  as  I  am  and  not  romance  about 
me  any  more. 

"I  went  with  the  deputation  to  the  House,  being  one  of 
those  drafted,  and  marching  at  the  head  of  a  large  body  of 
members  of  the  Union  that  accompanied  us,  but  had  no 
hope  of  gaining  admittance.  At  the  Strangers'  Entrance 
we  were  met  by  the  usual  number  of  watchful  police,  and 
the  Inspector  asked  at  once  which  was  Mrs.  France ;  the 
others  craned  their  necks  and  took  in  all  my  points  when  I 
was  indicated.  I  was  then  informed  that  I  could  not  enter, 
that  the  orders  were  positive.  There  was  no  time  to  waste 
in  protest  over  minor  matters,  another  was  chosen  in  my 
place,  and  I  was  left  outside  with  the  rank  and  file.  I  was 


356  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

annoyed,  and  had  no  difficulty  in  guessing  the  cause  of  my 
exclusion.  The  duke  may  despise  the  present  Government, 
but  he  had  not  scrupled  to  bring  his  personal  influence  to 
bear  on  it  in  order  to  save  me  from  possible  hurt  —  or 
notoriety. 

"  However,  it  is  one  of  our  principles  to  waste  no  time 
over  spilt  milk,  but  immediately  to  place  ourselves  in  readi 
ness  for  the  next  opportunity.  I  stood  quietly  with  the 
others  as  close  to  the  entrance  as  the  police  outside  would 
permit,  and  waited.  At  the  end  of  what  seemed  intermi 
nable  hours,  during  which  a  large  crowd  gathered,  many 
friendly,  for  the  public  is  beginning  to  respect  our  pluck  and 
persistence,  some  jeering  and  making  abominable  jokes, 
our  women  standing  as  erect  and  patient  as  soldiers,  with 
eager  set  faces,  ready  to  fight  if  need  be,  but  quite  as  ready 
to  disperse  peaceably  if  their  deputation  were  treated  with 
respect  —  well,  suddenly  the  doors  were  flung  open  and  out 
tumbled  a  medley  of  women  and  police.  Mrs.  Pankhurst, 
with  closed  eyes  and  rigid  limbs,  as  if  defying  the  worst, 
pushed  along  on  her  heels,  and  finally  flung  to  the  ground ; 
Mrs.  Pethick  Lawrence,  struggling  indignantly,  torn  and 
mauled ;  the  rest  treated  as  if  they  were  circus  beasts  of  the 
forest  that  had  got  loose  in  the  arena,  —  out  they  came  in  a 
wild  disgraceful  scrimmage.  What  a  cartoon  for  posterity 
to  gape  at ! 

"Of  course  we  made  a  rush  for  our  friends  and  leaders, 
inspired  with  precisely  the  same  instinct  to  go  to  their  as 
sistance  as  if  they  and  we  had  been  Men.  One  of  our  rigid 
principles  is  never  to  attack  the  police,  to  assume  that  they 
are  merely  obeying  orders ;  and  even  when  they  treat  us 
with  their  customary  brutality,  to  struggle,  but  not  to 
strike ;  it  being  our  desire  to  show,  if  possible,  that  a  great 
battle  can  be  won  in  these  days  by  brains  instead  of  force. 

"Therefore,  although  we  attempted  to  reach  our  leaders, 
it  was  merely  to  rescue  them  if  we  could;  at  all  events  to 
show  our  sympathy  and  indignation.  But  we  did  not  reach 
them.  The  police  outside  were  waiting  for  their  signal; 
they  immediately  closed  in  and  began  striking  and  pushing 


HADJI   SADRA  357 

us  about,  at  first  not  ungently :  they  merely  bashed  hats, 
knocked  a  few  shoulders,  and  twisted  a  few  arms.  But  as 
fast  as  they  dispersed  one  group,  or  turned  to  attack  an 
other,  we  made  a  new  rush;  some  in  the  direction  of  Mrs. 
Pankhurst,  others  toward  those  being  led  off  to  the  police 
station,  others,  myself  among  them,  intending  to  force  our 
way  into  the  House,  and  make  another  demonstration  in  the 
Lobby.  Mrs.  Lime  had  managed  to  keep  by  my  side,  for 
she  intended  to  enter  with  me.  But  suddenly  she  caught 
sight  of  a  girl  being  abominably  mauled  by  a  policeman, 
-and  made  a  brave  attempt  to  rescue  her.  The  policeman 
dropped  the  girl,  seized  Mrs.  Lime,  whirled  her  about, 
gripped  her  by  the  shoulders,  and,  rushing  her  against  the 
palings  of  Palace  Yard,  struck  her  breasts  against  the  iron 
again  and  again.  That  sight  sent  me  off  my  head.  I  for 
got  instructions,  forgot  the  lofty  impassivity  I  had  been 
taught  in  the  East  —  an  admirable  recipe  for  occasions  like 
this,  but,  as  yet,  beyond  me  —  I  leaped  on  the  man  and 
struck  him  on  the  back  of  the  head  with  all  my  might.  He 
dropped  Mrs.  Lime  and  whirled  about  on  me  as  furiously 
as  if  my  fist  had  been  as  hard  as  his  own,  but  when  he 
saw  me,  he  merely  dropped  his  arm,  scowled,  and  said  : 

"'  Go  home!  Go  home  !  You'll  get  hurt,' and  ran  over 
to  pull  two  women  apart  who  had  locked  arms.  Then  I 
realized  what  I  had  dimly  been  conscious  of,  that  my  only 
injuries  were  to  my  clothes,  and  that  these  were  but  the 
result  of  the  general  scuffle ;  every  policeman  had  avoided 
me  or  brushed  me  off.  They,  had  received  orders  to  do 
me  no  harm.  Among  all  those  hundreds  of  indomitable 
women  I  alone  was  to  go  scot  free.  The  idea  so  enraged 
me  that  I  flew  at  another  policeman  and  struck  him,  de 
termined  to  go  to  prison  with  the  others.  But  he,  too, 
brushed  me  off,  although  he  was  already  panting  and  angry, 
and  no  doubt  would  have  liked  to  strike  me  and  then  drag 
me  to  the  police  station.  I  attacked  another,  and  he 
turned  his  back  on  me  with  an  oath,  seized  a  girl  who  was 
merely  pushing  her  way  quietly  through  the  struggling 
mass,  her  face  set  and  gray,  her  eyes  with  that  strange  in- 


358  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

tent  look  worn  by  nearly  every  face  belonging  to  our  women 
—  seized  her,  threw  her  down,  and  kicked  her  in  the  side. 

"Well  —  I  managed  to  drag  her  and  Mrs.  Lime  out  of 
the  crowd,  put  them  into  a  four-wheeler,  and  take  them  to 
Westminster  Hospital.  They  will  die,  no  doubt;  if  not  now, 
then  later,  devoured  by  the  most  horrible  of  all  diseases. 
But  if  we  have  lost  them,  we  shall  have  gained  forty  in  their 
place,  for  this  insensate  policy  of  the  Government  has  its 
logical  consequence  —  illustrates  the  old  truth,  'The  blood 
of  martyrs  is  the  seed  of  reform.'  Have  they  never  read 
history  ?  • 

"And  yet,  sometimes  I  despair.  We  shall  win  in  the 
end,  of  course,  for  it  is  as  impossible  to  exterminate  this  new 
force  as  to  chain  the  Atlantic.  But  when  ?  And  shall  we 
be  here  to  see  ?  We  are  only  mortal,  after  all,  and  our 
bodies,  strong  to  endure  as  they  are,  can  be  broken  by  men.- 
And  the  great  mass  of  women  are  so  slow  in  awakening. 
In  spite  of  the  tremendous  increase  in  our  numbers  during 
the  past  year,  and  the  interest  we  have  aroused,  our  recruits 
are  a  mere  handful  when  compared  with  the  female  popu 
lation  of  Great  Britain,  in  general.  Not  until  all,  or  at 
least  three-fourths,  of  those  women  have  awakened  and 
rallied  to  our  side  can  we  win.  Of  that  I  am  convinced. 
One  thing  I  strove  to  do  in  the  north  was  to  convert  the 
political  women,  those  that  always  assist  the  men  so  po 
tently  at  every  general  election.  If  we  can  persuade  these 
women  to  desert  the  men  and  fight  for  women  alone,  we 
shall  have  made  a  great  stride.  This  autumn  I  am  to  renew 
my  acquaintance  with  my  old  associates  and  visit  country 
houses  during  the  autumn  and  winter,  making  converts  of 
women  who  would  be  of  inestimable  benefit  to  us.  But 
that  is  a  sort  of  inactive  service  under  which  I  chafe. 
Would  that  we  could  rouse  all  the  women  at  once,  form 
a  rebel  army,  take  to  the  field  and  fight  like  men.  Perhaps 
we  shall  be  driven  to  that  in  the  end.  It  is  all  very  well  to 
plan  to  win  by  brains  alone,  and  it  would  be  to  our  immor 
tal  glory  if  we  did,  but  it  is  to  be  considered  that  we  are  op 
posing  men  either  without  brains  themselves,  or  who  have 


HADJI  SADRA  359 

been  bred  on  the  idea  of  physical  force  and  really  respect 
nothing  else.  Well,  whatever  happens,  I  only  ask  that  I 
may  be  here  to  see.  I  am  willing  to  give  my  brain  and 
body  and  soul  and  every  penny  I  can  command  to  this  cause, 
but  I  want  to  give  the  last  of  myself  at  the  last  minute,  all 
the  same. 

"Now,  write  and  tell  me  honestly  if  you  would  have  me 
desert  these  women,  when  I  can  be  of  signal  assistance  to 
them  in  not  one  but  many  ways;  and  if  you  think  I  would 
be  anything  but  what  this  cause  has  made  of  me  if  I 
would. 

"  JULIA  FRANCE." 


BOOK  V 
DANIEL  TAY 


THE  great  amphitheatre  of  the  Albert  Hall  was  filled 
from  arena  to  dome :  some  ten  thousand  women  and  three 
hundred  men,  exclusive  of  police.  Slim  young  women  in 
the  white  uniform  of  stewards  and  decorated  with  the 
badges  of  their  unions  stood  at  the  back  of  the  gangways. 
On  the  platform,  against  flowers  and  banners,  sat  the  officials 
of  the  Woman's  Social  and  Political  Union  and  of  the  sev 
eral  unions  it  had  inspired.  Of  the  most  important  of  these, 
Julia  France  had  been  elected  president  eighteen  months 
before,  and  to-night  sat  at  the  right  of  Mrs.  Pethick  Law 
rence,  who  occupied  the  chair  in  the  absence  of  Mrs.  Pank- 
hurst. 

The  great  rally  had  a  fourfold  purpose :  to  celebrate  the 
victory  of  the  Militants  in  the  general  election,  during 
which  they  had  fought  the  Liberals  in  forty  constituencies ; 
their  energy,  cleverness,  and  resource  being  not  the  least 
of  the  factors  which  had  transferred  eighteen  seats  to  the 
Conservatives  (thus  throwing  the  Government  upon  the 
Labor  and  Irish  vote  for  support) ;  to  protest  once  more 
against  the  inhuman  treatment  of  the  hunger  strikers  in 
Holloway  gaol ;  to  add  to  the  £100,000  fund ;  and  to  listen 
to  Mrs.  France's  account  of  her  three  months'  lecture  tour 
in  the  United  States. 

When  Julia  had  risen  to  speak,  she  had  been  greeted  by 
a  magnificent  demonstration.  Every  woman  in  the  audi 
ence  had  sprung  to  her  feet,  cheered,  and  waved  her  banner 
for  five  minutes.  This  enthusiasm  was  not  inspired  by 
Julia's  notable  tour  only,  nor  to  the  money  she  had  brought 
back  with  her,  but  to  her  four  years'  record  of  steadfast  and 
valuable  work  in  the  Militant  cause,  the  large  number  of 
recruits  she  had  brought  in  by  her  personal  efforts,  the  many 
Liberal  candidates  she  had  helped  to  defeat  at  by-elections, 
her  religious  devotion  to  a  work  for  which  nothing  in  her 

363 


364  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

previous  life  would  seem  to  have  prepared  her,  and  above 
all,  to  the  great  gift  for  leadership  she  had  displayed  during 
the  last  year  and  a  half.  For  her  indomitable  courage,  her 
indifference  to  personal  comfort,  and  to  bodily  suffering 
when  maltreated  by  police,  stewards,  or  hooligans,  or  en 
dured  in  gaol,  they  had  no  applause ;  this  was  a  mere 
matter  of  course.  But  in  addition  to  her  services,  Julia  was 
a  favorite  with  all  of  them :  she  was  picturesque  without 
being  sensational,  a  brilliant  powerful  persuasive  speaker, 
and  a  lovely  picture  on  the  platform.  Moreover,  she 
possessed  (and  desperately  clung  to  )  the  priceless  gift  of 
humor,  and  humor  in  suffragette  ranks  was  rare.  Mrs. 
Pankhurst  and  her  daughters,  great  speakers  as  they  were, 
had  not  a  ray  of  it ;  and  even  Mrs.  Pethick  Lawrence,  the 
most  genial  of  women,  fell  under  the  spell  of  the  world's 
tragedy  the  moment  she  rose  to  speak. 

To-night,  Julia,  knowing  that  most  of  the  minds  present 
were  oppressed  by  the  sufferings  in  Holloway,  made  the 
account  of  herAmerican  experiences  as  diverting  as  possible, 
although  she  finished  with  a  passionate  denunciation  of  the 
Government,  and  an  appeal  to  her  audience  to  proselytize 
unceasingly,  until  their  numbers  were  irresistible. 

When  she  sat  down,  Mrs.  Lawrence,  preparatory  to  mak 
ing  her  appeal  for  funds,  gave  a  graphic  and  terrible  picture 
of  the  hunger  strikers,  who,  forcibly  fed  through  the  nose 
and  throat  with  surgical  instruments  of  torture,  were  now 
having  a  dose  of  martyrdom  that  compared  favorably  with 
any  in  the  records  of  the  Inquisition.  Julia,  too  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  horrible  details,  glanced  over  the  House 
and  nodded  to  Ishbel  Dark  and  Bridgit  Maundrell,  seated 
in  a  box.  Ishbel  was  still  the  prettiest  woman  in  any  as 
sembly  she  chose  to  grace,  and  her  attire,  as  ever,  looked 
like  the  petals  of  a  flower.  Bridgit,  severely  tailored,  albeit 
in  velvet,  was  sitting  forward  tensely,  her  eyes  flashing  at 
the  iniquities  of  man.  Julia  noted  with  amusement  that 
Maundrell  was  behind  her,  and  listening  with  an  expression 
no  less  indignant.  Dark  consistently  refused  to  show  him 
self  at  Suffrage  rallies,  although  more  sympathetic  of  late, 


DANIEL  TAY  365 

but  Maundrell  was  not  only  complaisant,  but  converted. 
To  have  lived  with  Bridgit  for  three  years  and  failed  to  be 
impressed  by  that  burning  and  immovable  faith  would  have 
stamped  him  superman,  and  the  next  step  was  to  surrender 
to  a  cause  capable  of  making  such  an  apostle.  He  already 
had  made  a  number  of  speeches,  in  and  out  of  the  House, 
advocating  the  extension  of  the  franchise  to  a  limited 
number  of  women,  and  as  he  was  a  man  of  distinguished 
abilities,  there  was  much  rejoicing  in  Suffrage  ranks.  He 
had  even  permitted  his  wife  to  take  part  in  the  last  great 
raid  on  the  House,  although,  without  her  knowledge,  he 
had  circled  near  her,  and  diverted  the  attention  of  the  police 
when  she  had  been  too  eager  for  trouble.  He  had  no  inten 
tion  of  letting  her  go  to  gaol  and  ruin  her  health. 

But  the  Westminster  police  avoided  arresting  women  of 
Mrs.  Maundrell's  position  unless  their  official  faces  were 
slapped.  For  that  matter  they  were  growing  more  and 
more  averse  from  arresting  women  at  all,  and  had  been 
heard  to  wish  that  the  Parliamentarians  would  come  out 
and  do  their  own  dirty  work.  The  women  had  so  far  won 
their  liking  and  respect  that  when  the  Government  wanted 
them  knocked  about,  they  were  forced  to  order  up  reserves 
from  the  slums.  The  Westminster  officers  formed  woman- 
proof  cordons  about  the  Houses  of  Parliament,  effectively 
protecting  the  men  within,  but  repulsed  their  assailants 
good-naturedly,  only  making  arrests  when  the  women  were 
inexorable.  When  Julia,  determined  upon  arrest  in  one 
of  the  raids  of  1909,  made  a  technical  assault  upon  a  tall 
policeman's  chin,  he  had  whispered:  "Harder,  Mrs.  France. 
Give  me  a  good  crack  on  me  cheek.  That'll  be  assault,  as 
the  Inspector's  looking  this  way,  and  I'll  have  to  arrest  ye." 

The  great  number  of  Militants  arrested,  the  injustice  of 
their  trials  and  sentences,  the  severity  of  their  treatment 
in  gaol,  had  succeeded  as  nothing  else  had  done  in  arousing 
the  women  of  Great  Britain.  Very  nearly  a  million  had 
declared  themselves  in  favor  of  Suffrage,  and  many  of  these 
had  joined  one  or  other  of  the  forty-one  societies  and 
unions. 


366  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

Only  the  mean-spirited,  the  hopelessly  old-fashioned,  and 
the  sex  idolaters  had  failed  to  rally  to  their  cause.  Never 
in  the  history  of  England  had  there  been  such  monster 
mass-meetings,  such  impressive  parades,  such  a  widespread 
upheaval.  If  these  rebels  had  been  Socialists,  or  any  other 
body  of  men  demanding  concessions,  they  would  have  won 
their  battle  long  since. 

Mrs.  Lawrence  passed  on  to  her  favorite  subject,  the 
injustice  of  visiting  the  penalties  of  the  law  upon  desperate 
girls  for  infanticide,  while  ignoring  her  partner  in  crime. 
Julia,  whose  mind  had  wandered  to  her  own  prison  experi 
ences,  happily  over  before  the  hunger  strike  was  organized, 
and  the  devices  to  which  she  had  resorted  before  she  had 
compelled  arrest  in  spite  of  the  duke's  vigilance,  suddenly, 
without  an  instant's  transition,  began  to  think  vividly  of 
Daniel  Tay.  She  started  and  sat  up  straighter,  drawing 
her  brows  together  in  perplexity.  Her  thought  was  very 
consecutive  these  days. 

During  their  long  but  irregular  correspondence  —  often 
conducted  on  his  part  by  cable  —  she  had  thought  of  him 
exclusively  while  writing,  or  reading  his  characteristic 
letters,  and  then  dismissed  him  from  her  mind.  There 
was  always  a  certain  excitement  in  "  talking"  confiden 
tially  into  a  mind  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe,  and  his 
epistles,  however  brief,  were  sympathetic.  He  had  long  since 
given  up  his  attempt  to  turn  her  from  her  purpose ;  he 
recognized  her  as  a  force,  and  asserted  that  he  was  proud 
of  her.  She  fancied  that  he  no  longer  cared  to  meet  her 
again,  but  found  his  own  amusement  in  the  novelty  of  the 
correspondence ;  and  she  too  no  longer  experienced  tremors 
at  sight  of  his  handwriting.  But  she  was  conscious  of  a 
bond,  and  welcomed  an  occasional  vibration  from  the  other 
end  of  the  line. 

And  now  she  suddenly  found  herself  thinking  of  him 
intensely.  She  peered  out  into  that  acre  of  faces.  Could 
he  be  present  ?  Hardly,  as  he  had  written  but  a  few  weeks 
ago  that  he  was  "up  to  his  neck"  in  business  and  politics. 
The  famous  Graft  Prosecution  was  sitting  expectantly  on 


DANIEL  TAY  367 

the  edge  of  its  grave,  dug  by  corrupting  gold,  the  rallying 
of  every  dishonest  business  man  in  San  Francisco  to  the 
standard  of  the  scoundrels  in  politics,  and  a  few  mistakes 
of  its  own.  Business,  too,  was  "awful/'  San  Francisco's 
luck  not  having  turned  since  the  morning  of  the  earth 
quake.  No,  he  could  not  be  present,  but  she  stirred 
uneasily,  nevertheless.  She  was  highly  organized,  and 
quick  to  respond  to  the  concentration  of  another  mind 
upon  her  own.  Once  more  she  searched  that  mass  of  faces, 
but  they  seemed  to  melt  into  one.  She  banished  Tay  from 
her  mind.  He  returned  promptly.  She  frowned,  but  gave 
it  up  and  let  her  mind  drift. 

Mrs.  Lawrence  had  made  her  usual  stirring  appeal  for 
an  addition  to  the  growing  fund,  and  the  money  was 
rolling  in.  The  girl  stewards  were  running  back  and  forth, 
and  Mrs.  Lawrence  was  reading  aloud  the  promise  cards 
as  they  were  handed  up,  while  her  husband  made  the  addi 
tions  on  the  score  board.  Some  £5000  had  been  subscribed 
amidst  continuous  applause,  when  Julia  forgot  Tay  and 
almost  laughed  aloud  as  she  heard  Mrs.  Winstone's  name 
read  out  to  the  tune  of  £20.  "Alas!"  this  convert  had 
cried  plaintively  to  Julia,  a  few  days  before.  "What  will 
you  ?  Haven't  I  always  said  that  one  secret  of  lookin' 
young  was  to  dress  in  the  fashion  of  the  moment,  not  have 
any  silly  style  of  your  own  ?  And  you've  got  to  keep  your 
mind  dressed  up  to  date  as  well  as  your  figger.  I'm  not 
goin'  to  gaol  and  ruin  what  complexion  I've  got  left,  but 
I've  taken  a  box  at  Albert  Hall  and  I'm  havin'  meetings 
in  my  drawin'-room.  It's  a  God-send  to  have  a  new  fad, 
anyway.  All  the  old  ones  were  motheaten." 

Julia  lost  her  breath.  She  felt  her  body  cold  and  rigid, 
and  all  its  blood  flown  to  her  face. 

"Daniel  Tay,  £200,"  read  Mrs.  Lawrence. 

And  the  women  cheered,  as  they  always  did  when  a  man 
offered  himself  up  for  encouragement. 

Julia  stared  at  her  hands  and  tried  to  close  her  lips ! 
So !  He  was  here  !  She  was  furious  with  herself  for  her 
agitation;  she  also  cast  a  hasty  glance  over  her  costume. 


368  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  HER   TIMES 

Ishbel  and  her  maid  attended  to  her  wardrobe,  keeping 
her  admirably  dressed ;  nothing  was  asked  of  her  but  to 
wear  her  clothes,  and  this  she  could  always  be  relied 
upon  to  do  with  distinction.  She  had  hardly  been  aware 
of  the  color  or  fashion  of  her  gown  until  this  moment  of 
searching  investigation,  and  was  gratified  to  observe  that 
it  was  of  white  chiffon  cloth  and  gentian  blue  velvet ;  made 
with  simplicity,  but  long  of  line,  and  moulded  to  her  round 
slim  young  figure.  She  wore  a  long  chain  of  blue  tourmalines 
and  moonstones,  the  colors  of  her  Union,  and  presented  by  her 
American  admirers.  Her  abundant  flame-colored  locks 
were  braided  about  her  head  as  in  the  days  of  Bosquith,  little 
curls  escaping  on  her  brow  and  neck. 

Her  self-possession  returned,  and  looking  out,  she  de 
liberately  smiled,  a  very  hospitably  sisterly  smile.  She 
believed  that  Tay  would  move,  change  his  seat  abruptly ; 
but  everybody  was  moving,  and  many  were  standing. 
To  recognize  him  would  be  impossible  unless  he  came 
directly  up  to  the  platform.  She  rather  wondered  that  he 
did  not,  being  an  informal  creature.  Then  she  looked 
forward  confidently  to  finding  him  at  the  stage  door. 

The  meeting  broke  up,  amidst  renewed  cheers  and  wav 
ing  of  flags.  Tay  was  not  at  the  stage  door.  After  linger 
ing  for  a  few  moments  in  conversation,  she  went  round  to 
the  front  entrance.  But  only  the  police  stood  there,  a 
long  stately  and  useless  rank.  They  all  saluted  Julia, 
and  one  told  her  he  had  missed  her.  Finally  she  permitted 
him  to  put  her  into  a  cab,  and  drove  to  Clement's  Inn 
with  her  black  brows  in  a  straight  line.  She  excogitated 
until  the  brilliant  idea  struggled  out  that  Tay  had  intrusted 
his  donation  to  some  friend,  who  had  recklessly  unchained 
himself  from  his  desk  in  that  unhappy  city  of  San  Francisco. 


n 

WHEN  she  had  entered  her  flat  she  sat  down  at  her  desk 
and  scowled  more  deeply  still.  She  was  angry  not  only  at 
her  past  agitation  but  at  her  present  disappointment.  For 
seven  years  now,  save  for  brief  lapses,  almost  forgotten, 
she  had  been  complete  mistress  of  herself.  During  the 
last  four  she  had  so  far  sunk  her  personality  into  the 
great  impersonal  cause  of  her  adoption  that  she  had  had 
no  time  to  moon  about  herself  after  the  fashion  of  idle 
women. 

Work  !  Had  that  been  the  secret  ?  How  commonplace, 
and  how  expositive  !  Who,  indeed,  when  speaking,  plan 
ning,  fighting,  proselytizing,  writing  innumerable  leaflets, 
newspaper  and  magazine  articles,  drilling  recruits,  attend 
ing  thousands  of  meetings,  to  say  nothing  of  organizing 
her  own  Union  and  fighting  army,  would  find  a  moment's 
time  to  cast  a  thought  to  man  save  as  present  enemy  and 
future  co-worker.  Even  when  in  gaol,  from  which  she 
had  been  mysteriously  released  both  times  at  the  end  of  a 
week,  she  had  deliberately  slept  when  not  writing  articles 
in  her  head.  In  America  she  had  not  gone  farther  west 
than  Chicago,  but  she  suddenly  realized  that  if  the  question 
of  including  California  in  the  itinerary  had  arisen  she 
should  have  felt  something  like  panic,  possibly  the  same 
superstitious  fear  that  had  assailed  her  at  three  pillar 
boxes  four  years  earlier.  Well,  indeed,  that  Tay  had  sent 
his  contribution.  She  had  no  desire  to  have  her  work 
interrupted,  nor  to  go  through  any  female  throes.  To 
know  that  she  was  still  hospitable  to  them  was  bad  enough. 
Switch  him  out !  She  took  her  typewriter  from  its  case, 
haughtily  refusing  to  sleep. 

The  telephone  beside  her  rang.     She  put  the  receiver  to 
her  ear,  wondering  who  dared  interrupt  her  at  night  in 

2B  369 


370  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

times  of  peace.  Although  a  truce  with  the  Government 
was  not  formally  declared  until  February  i4th,  the  Mili 
tants  were  resting  on  the  laurels  won  in  the  General  Election. 

A  man's  voice  answered  her  "  Hello  !" 

11  Who  is  it?" 

"  Guess!" 

"I  — I  can't." 

"Well,  I  hope  my  voice  has  changed  some." 

"Oh  —  so  you  are  here.  How  generous  of  you  to  give 
us  those  £200 !  " 

"Generous  nothing.  You  fired  me  up  so  with  that 
speech  that  I  came  near  subscribing  my  entire  letter  of 
credit,  and  then  borrowing  back  enough  to  pay  my 
hotel  bill  and  get  out." 

"Why  didn't  you  come  up  to  the  platform  afterward, 
or  wait  for  me  in  the  lobby?" 

"Frightened  out  of  my  wits.  I'm  never  shy  at  the  other 
end  of  the  telephone,  so  thought  I'd  meet  you  this  way 
first.  If  you'd  made  the  usual  female  speech,  I  should 
have  remained  quite  myself.  But  with  all  your  wit  and 
fire,  you're  so  finished,  so  polished  —  and  you  look  that 
way,  too.  My  teeth  are  still  chattering.  Somehow,  in 
spite  of  everything,  I  suddenly  realized  that  I'd  always 
remembered  you  as  the  little  princess  on  the  tower." 

("  And  I  in  the  fatal  young  thirties  !  ")  "Nonsense!  I've 
merely  worked  hard  these  last  four  years.  No  one  ever 
dreamed  of  being  afraid  of  me.  Of  course  you'll  call 
to-morrow?" 

"I  think  I  might  summon  up  courage  if  you  would  infuse 
a  little  cordiality  into  your  voice.  You've  thawed  a  bit, 
but  not  too  much." 

"You  took  me  so  completely  by  surprise.  I  had  just 
made  up  my  mind  that  you  had  asked  some  friend  to  make 
that  donation  in  your  name." 

"Never  should  have  thought  of  such  a  thing,  although 
you  could  have  had  all  I've  got  at  any  moment.  What 
time  may  I  call  to-morrow?" 

"When  did  you  arrive?" 


DANIEL  TAY  371 

"This  morning.  Saw  at  once  that  you  were  going  to 
speak,  and  thought  I'd  see  what  you  were  like  before  I 
ventured.  What  time  may  I  call  to-morrow  morning?1 

"Let  me  think  —  I've  always  a  thousand  things  to  attend 
to  in  the  morning  - 

"Please  cut  them  out.  You  need  a  rest,  anyhow.  I'd 
like  to  call  at  eleven." 

"Well  —  why  not?  We  might  go  to  the  National 
Gallery  - 

"What !  You're  not  going  to  begin  on  that  ?  Reminds 
me  of  Cherry  and  the  torments  of  my  youth.  I'd  like  to 
talk  to  you  for  twelve  hours  on  end,  and  take  you  out  to 
lunch  and  dinner,  but  I'll  go  to  no  morgues!  ' 

"Oh,  very  well.  It  will  be  quite  delightful.  But  as  it 
will  be  what  you  call  a  strenuous  day,  perhaps  I'd  better 
go  to  bed  now.  Good  night." 

"Good  night,  Militant  Princess." 

When  Julia  hung  up  the  receiver  she  was  still  smiling. 
Then,  to  show  how  completely  mistress  of  herself  she  was, 
she  went  to  bed  and  slept. 


Ill 

THE  next  morning  Julia  looked  dubiously  about  her 
little  sitting-room.  A  workshop,  truly.  No  hint  here  of 
the  charming  woman's  boudoir.  It  would  have  been 
impossible  for  Julia  to  live  in  tasteless  surroundings,  and 
the  walls  were  covered  with  green  burlap,  the  carpet  was 
of  the  same  shade,  the  chairs  were  of  leather,  the  big  desk 
was  of  old  oak.  But  there  was  not  a  picture  on  the  walls, 
not  a  bibelot,  only  books,  books  everywhere;  and  in  the 
corners  piles  of  papers.  She  rang  for  the  maid  that  took 
care  both  of  her  and  the  flat  (her  meals  were  brought  in 
unless  she  went  out  for  them),  and  ordered  her  to  make  the 
room  as  presentable  as  possible  while  she  took  the  walk 
with  which  she  began  her  day.  It  was  raining,  but  no 
weather  kept  her  indoors,  and  she  walked  rapidly  to  Ken 
sington  Park  and  back. 

When  she  reentered  the  flat  she  petrified  the  maid  by 
ordering  her  to  bring  forth  her  new  coats  and  skirts  for 
inspection.  There  was  a  rough  but  handsome  green  tweed 
for  heavy  wear,  the  inevitable  black  cloth,  and  a  more 
elaborate  costume  of  electric  blue  cloth  with  a  white 
velvet  collar  and  fancy  blouse,  intended  for  the  simple 
functions  of  her  present  life.  She  arrayed  herself  in  the 
last  without  an  instant's  hesitation,  then  after  trying  on 
the  graceful  little  hat  three  times,  decided  that  it  would  be 
more  hospitable  to  receive  an  old  friend  in  the  hair  he 
admired. 

"Have  I  any  tea-gowns?"  she  asked  abruptly. 

"Tea-gowns,  mum?"  Collins  barely  articulated.  "No, 
mum.  You've  never  had  use  for  tea-gowns." 

"How  odd,  when  I  often  come  home  tired." 

"I've  never  seen  you  really  tired,  mum." 

"Everybody  is  tired  at  times  —  and  —  and  —  I  always 
wanted  tea-gowns." 

372 


DANIEL  TAY  373 

"I'll  go  at  once  to  her  ladyship's  - 

"Yes,  do.  No,  go  to  the  big  French  houses  —  I've 
given  Lady  Dark  so  much  trouble.  Buy  me  two,  ready- 
made.  A  pale  green  one,  and  a  white  one  with  sapphire- 
blue  ribbons  —  or  cornflower  blue.  It  doesn't  matter." 

"Yes,  mum."    And  Collins  went  on  her  errand  joyfully. 

"Now  what  a  fool  I  am,"  thought  Julia.  But  she  did 
not  recall  the  maid.  She  carried  the  forgotten  typewriter 
into  the  next  room  and  deposited  it  on  the  bed,  then  sat 
down  and  reflected  that  Swani  Dambaba,  her  Hindu  master, 
had  often  reminded  her  there  was  nothing  like  a  short,  but 
thorough,  vacation  from  the  mind's  accustomed  travail, 
to  recuperate  the  mental  faculties  and  prepare  them  for 
still  more  arduous  labors.  She  had  thought  of  one  thing 
only  for  four  years.  This,  no  doubt,  was  the  opportunity 
her  mind  had  impatiently  awaited,  for  its  Suffrage  activities 
had  lain  down  to  sleep  without  a  preliminary  yawn.  Her 
secretary  had  come  and  gone,  mystified. 

Promptly  on  the  stroke  of  eleven  she  answered  a  sharp 
rap  and  extended  both  hands  with  a  cold  friendly  bright 
ness  she  could  always  adjust  like  a  visor.  Tay  flung  his 
hat  on  a  chair  and  shook  her  hands  for  quite  a  minute. 
Obviously  his  diffidence  was  a  thing  of  overnight,  for  it 
was  not  in  evidence  as  he  smiled  down  upon  her  with  his 
keen  clever  eyes. 

"By  Jove!"  he  exclaimed,  "but  you  look  good  to  me. 
You  haven't  changed  a  bit.  To  tell  the  truth,  if  business 
hadn't  forced  me  to  come  over  here,  I  don't  believe  I'd 
ever  have  come  —  was  so  afraid  you'd  be  old  and  ugly- 

"Old  and  ugly!"  cried  Julia,  indignantly.  "When  I'm 
only  -  She  paused  abruptly.  Tay  knew  that  she  was 
thirty-four,  and  she  was  willing  that  he  should  know,  but, 
quite  like  any  woman  after  twenty-eight,  she  couldn't  force 
the  combination  past  her  lips. 

"I  know,  but  you've  worked  like  a  man,  and  been  in  so 
many  free  fights.  Batting  cops  over  the  head,  sitting  on 
roofs  in  the  rain  to  devil  politicians  at  the  psychological 
moment,  to  say  nothing  of  gaol,  doesn't  improve  women, 


374  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  HER  TIMES 

as  a  rule.  I  was  almost  certain  you  would  have  lost  your 
complexion  —  and  your  hair  !" 

1 '  Well,  I  haven't.     Do  sit  down.     Will  you  smoke  ? " 

" Will  you?" 

"I  never  smoke  in  the  morning." 

"No  more  do  I.     Don't  let  my  nerves  get  ahead  of  me." 

"It  would  be  delightful  to  see  you  all  again,"  said  Julia, 
amiably,  as  he  took  off  his  overcoat  and  made  himself 
comfortable.  Then  she  plunged  into  the  safe  subject  of 
Mrs.  Bode  and  her  amusing  experiences  in  London  during 
the  Spanish  war,  meanwhile  examining  him  with  cool  smil 
ing  eyes,  which  appeared  to  dwell  upon  the  cheerful  memory 
of  his  sister.  She  was  gratified  to  find  him  as  well  dressed 
and  groomed,  even  to  the  crown  of  his  sleek  black  head,  as 
any  man  he  might  meet  in  Piccadilly,  and  confessed  that 
she  would  have  been  intensely  disappointed  had  his  attire 
been  as  Western  as  his  vocabulary.  His  accent  was  also 
agreeable,  without  nasal  inflection,  and  although  it  lacked 
the  cultivation  of  the  best  English  voice,  it  was  manly  even 
over  the  telephone.  He  had  grown  several  inches  taller, 
although  he  had  been  a  tall  boy,  and  his  figure  was  straight 
and  well  set  up.  Save  for  the  keen  depth  of  the  black-gray 
eyes,  and  the  accentuated  squareness  of  chin  and  jaw,  he 
had  changed  surprisingly  little.  Even  as  a  boy  he  had  held 
his  head  high ;  now  he  had  the  air  of  one  accustomed  to 
command  a  large  number  of  men.  His  manner,  while 
courteous  and  amiable,  betrayed  possibilities  of  impatience. 
She  could  quite  appreciate  what  he  had  once  written  her, 
that  he  was  "some  pumpkins  on  the  street." 

He  looked  steadily  at  her  as  they  talked,  and  she  detected 
an  expression  both  defensive  and  wary  at  the  back  of  his 
eyes,  reflected  in  the  slight  smile  on  his  firm,  rather  grim 
mouth.  She  guessed  that  he  had  no  intention  of  falling 
in  love  with  her  again.  Every  once  in  a  while,  however,  his 
eyes  flashed  with  admiration,  and  then  he  looked  quite 
boyish;  his  smile  was  spontaneous  and  delightful.  But 
she  suddenly  realized  that  he  would  not  be  as  easy  to 
understand  as  she  had  thought. 


DANIEL  TAY  375 

"You  might  have  sent  me  a  photograph,"  he  said 
abruptly,  tired  of  Cherry.  "I  have  a  large  collection  of 
libels,  cut  from  weekly  magazines,  but  - 

"How  odd  you  never  asked  for  one." 

"I  guess  I  didn't  want  the  charming  picture  in  my  mind 
disturbed.  I  feared  you  might  have  grown  to  look  mascu 
line,  at  the  least.  It's  queer  you  haven't,  you  know." 

"None  of  us  looks  masculine,  although  a  good  many 
look  sexless,  if  you  like.  Don't  you  want  to  come  down 
to  the  offices  and  meet  the  big  ones?" 

"I  —  do  —  not." 

"  I  thought  you  were  so  interested  - 

"As  far  as  I  am  concerned  the  entire  movement  is  con 
centrated  in  you.  You  may  be  the  type,  but  I  don't  believe 
it,  and  anyhow  I  don't  care." 

"Well,  you  saw  some  of  them  on  the  platform  last  night." 

"I  saw  no  one  but  you.  In  fact  I  had  an  opera-glass 
trained  on  you  throughout  the  whole  show." 

"Oh!  Did  you?  But  you  haven't  told  me  what 
brought  you  over." 

"We're  trying  to  open  an  important  connection  in  London, 
and  our  representative  cabled  me  to  come  over  and  help 
him.  An  American  has  to  sit  up  nights  to  keep  an  English 
man  from  getting  ahead  of  him,  much  as  an  Englishman 
has  to  sit  up  watching  a  Scot.  This  is  the  top  of  civiliza 
tion,  all  right  —  and  all  that  term  implies.  No  wonder 
your  women  are  ahead  in  their  particular  game." 

"But  the  American  women  are  now  almost  as  keen  on 
Suffrage  as  we  are." 

"Yes,  but  in  their  way,  not  yours.  I'm  for  giving  them 
the  vote,  for  they'll  help  us  to  clean  up,  and  incidentally 
develop  their  minds.  But  your  women  are  a  century 
ahead  —  not  that  we'll  ever  have  such  women.  Thank 
God,  we  haven't  the  men  to  breed  them.  You're  up  against 
the  hundred-per-cent  male.  That  is  enough  to  make 
women  stronger  than  death.  With  us  it's  more  likely  to 
be  the  other  way." 

"You  don't  look  henpecked." 


376  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"No  more  I  am,  nor  ever  shall  be.  Our  women  only 
think  they  do  the  tyrannizing.  Give  a  woman  her  head  in 
trifles,  all  the  money  she  can  whine  or  nag  for,  and  she 
thinks  she's  the  whole  show.  That's  the  way  we  manage 
ours.  What  they  don't  know  doesn't  hurt  them." 

"I  rather  think  that's  worse.  We  at  least  know  what 
we  are  fighting." 

"  Exactly.  And  it  has  made  great  fighters  of  you. 
None  better  in  the  history  of  the  world.  That  shows  how 
much  cleverer  the  American  man  is  than  the  Englishman. 
We  lie  low  like  Br'er  Rabbit,  and  say  nuffin.  American 
women  are  discontented,  want  the  earth,  but  can  find 
nothing  to  sharpen  their  axes  on,  and  that  is  good  for  us. 
They  may  help  us  in  the  United  States,  and  we'll  be  glad 
to  have  'em,  but  they'll  never  rule.  Now  I  am  willing  to 
bet  my  unmade  millions  that  the  Englishwomen  will  be 
ruling  this  country  fifty  years  from  now,  perhaps  twenty. 
I  expect  to  live  to  see  a  woman  Prime  Minister.  You, 
perhaps  !  Awful  thought !" 

"I  should  like  it,"  said  Julia,  frankly.  "And  I'm  glad 
I  wasn't  born  an  American." 

"Oh,  you  are  you.  I  don't  class  you  geographically  - 
except  —  well,  I  read  up  after  I'd  got  a  letter  or  two  from 
you,  and  it  set  me  thinking  —  also  talking  with  an  astrol 
oger  we  have  in  San  Francisco,  who's  some  nuts  on  Oriental 
lore.  We  came  to  the  same  conclusion,  that  you  were  a 
lightning  streak  straight  out  of  the  past — not  Earth's 
past,  but  some  previous  solar  system  - 

"Oh!"  Julia  sprang  to  her  feet,  startled  quite  out  of 
her  visor.  "San  Francisco!  You!  It  is  too  uncanny!" 

"Hoped  I'd  get  a  rise  out  of  you.  Nothing  uncanny 
about  it.  Some  of  the  weirdest  characters,  not  to  say 
scholars,  have  drifted  out  there.  California  is  not  the 
God-forsaken  hole  you  may  have  been  led  to  believe.  I'll 
admit  that  lore  of  any  sort  is  not  exactly  our  business 
man's  idea  of  recreation,  and  but  for  you  I  might  be  in 
happy  ignorance  of  Oriental  mysteries  myself." 

"And  how  much  do  you  believe?" 


DANIEL  TAY  377 

"Oh,  sometimes  I  laugh  at  it  —  and  myself,  but  —  per 
haps  I  like  the  queer  romance  of  it.  Lord  knows  it's  suffi 
ciently  un-American.  Now  that  I've  seen  you  once  more 
-  I'm  not  so  sure  how  much  of  it  I  do  believe.  You  don't 
look  several  hundred  thousand  years  old,  not  by  a  long 
sight.  I  hope  you  have  a  young  appetite.  Will  you  come 
over  to  the  Savoy,  or  is  that  not  allowed  in  Militant 
circles?" 

"Nonsense.  Once,  perhaps;  but  now  I'd  lunch  with  a 
coal  heaver  if  I  chose." 

"Thanks!     I  have  a  taxi  downstairs — " 

"Waiting?  You  are  extravagant!  Like  your  cables. 
They  were  too  funny." 

"Not  at  all.  I'm  more  at  home  in  a  cable  office  than  in 
bed." 

"But  I  thought  you  were  all  so  badly  off  in  San  Fran 
cisco?" 

"My  dear  princess,  the  harder  up  a  San  Franciscan  is, 
the  more  money  he  spends.  I  can't  explain ;  doubtless 
it's  a  law  of  nature.  But  if  you'll  put  on  a  hat  to  match 
that  charming  frock  - 

"I'll  be  ready  in  a  second.  How  nice  that  you  notice 
what  a  woman  has  on.  I  had  almost  forgotten  that  pleas 
ant  characteristic  of  a  few  men." 

"I  shall  be  here  a  month,  and  hope  to  pass  on  your 
entire  wardrobe." 

And  they  went  as  gayly  forth  as  if  indeed  the  good  old 
friends  they  fain  would  feel  but  could  not ;  but  young 
withal,  and' agreeably  titillated. 


IV 

IF  a  man  and  a  woman  tentatively  interested  in  each 
other  would  part  for  years  at  the  end  of  a  long  day  to 
gether,  during  which  they  had  talked  until  every  subject 
on  earth  seemed  exhausted,  and  ennui  inevitable,  the  cure 
would  be  effected  before  the  disease  had  declared  itself. 
An  appreciative  thought  now  and  again,  a  passing  regret, 
other  minds  as  stimulating,  the  episode  is  closed.  Astute 
wives  have  been  known  to  apply  a  form  of  this  treatment 
to  husbands  and  the  objects  of  their  roving  fancy;  per 
chance  in  time  it  will  be  recognized  as  a  sort  of  love  vaccine 
and  scientifically  administered. 

Julia  and  Tay  talked  almost  uninterruptedly  until  eleven 
o'clock  that  night,  and  existed  comfortably  apart  for 
nearly  a  week.  Julia  plunged  into  routine  work  with 
renewed  ardors,  refused  to  look  at  her  tea-gowns,  and  when 
she  thought  of  Tay  at  all  was  rather  glad  they  had  met 
at  last  and  had  a  jolly  talk.  Tay  sent  her  a  box  of  roses 
(automatically),  but  was  too  busy  to  think  about  her; 
for  the  increased  importance  of  his  house,  to  say  nothing 
of  his  reluctant  millions,  depended  upon  the  success  of  his 
efforts  in  London.  But  on  Saturday  he  found  himself 
idle,  and  promptly  thought  of  Julia.  A  brief  talk  on  the 
telephone  ended  in  an  invitation  to  dine  at  Clement's  Inn 
that  night ;  and  with  his  desire  for  feminine  society  once 
more  alert,  and  for  Julia's  in  particular,  he  appeared  with 
his  usual  promptness. 

Julia,  who  had  grown  methodical,  had  put  on  the  green 
tea-gown  as  a  logical  result  of  its  purchase  for  the  delecta 
tion  of  her  old  friend ;  and  he  gave  it  instant  approval. 

"By  Jove!"  he  exclaimed.  " That's  the  sort  of  thing 
you  were  made  for.  You  look  less  of  a  Suffragette  than 
ever.  I  hope  that  when  you  have  accomplished  your 

378 


DANIEL  TAY  379 

horrible  purpose  and  have  nothing  to  do  but  vote,  you  will 
receive  me  in  a  boudoir  the  same  shade." 

"I  shouldn't  wonder  if  I  did  have  a  boudoir  one  of  these 
days  —  You  look  rather  nice  yourself  in  your  evening 
clothes  -  That  would  be  a  good  idea  for  all  of  us.  We'll 
take  a  rest  cure  first,  and  then  feminize  ourselves  just 
enough." 

"Rather  flat,  though,  to  receive  women  in  boudoirs,  for 
no  men  will  go  to  see  you  —  them." 

"Oh,  won't  they?  Men  will  readjust  their  old  ideals 
when  they  have  to,  and  be  glad  of  something  new  in 
women." 

"Yes,  but  that  sort  won't  care  a  hang  about  bou 
doirs." 

"They  will  about  mine.  And  I'll  promise  it  shall  be 
large  enough  for  people  with  long  legs.  I  hope  the  waiters 
won't  stumble  over  yours  when  they  bring  in  the  dinner." 

Tay  had  had  some  misgivings  about  this  dinner,  having 
been  asked  to  speak  once  or  twice  before  women's  clubs, 
foregathered  at  the  luncheon  hour.  But  Julia  had  not 
lost  her  taste  for  dainty  edibles,  and  he  hardly  could  have 
fared  better  anywhere,  save  in  the  city  of  his  birth. 

"How  is  it  you  know  so  much  about  food ?"  he  asked  as 
the  dishes  were  being  removed.  "You  say  the  Suffragettes 
are  not  even  masculine,  they  are  sexless.  No  wonder 
they  could  stand  gaol.  No  doubt  they  live  on  ancestral 
memories." 

"Gaol  has  ruined  most  of  their  stomachs,  all  the  same, 
and  I  should  have  choked  over  every  morsel  I  ate,  if  I 
hadn't  deliberately  thought  about  something  else  —  de 
tached  my  mind." 

"Can  you  do  that?"  he  asked,  looking  at  her  curiously. 

"Rather.  I  learned  a  good  many  secrets  in  the  East. 
I  can  control  both  my  mental  and  physical  machinery." 

"How  appalling!  If  you  found  yourself  falling  in  love, 
I  suppose  you'd  just  turn  on  your  mental  hose-pipe  and 
wash  it  out  by  the  roots." 

"Something  like  that." 


380  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

"Julia,"  said  Tay,  removing  his  cigar  and  looking  at  the 
ash,  "what  would  you  really  do  if  you  ever  did  fall  in  love  ? " 

"I  never  shall." 

"Ah?  Is  prophecy  included  in  the  mental  make-up  of 
the  new  sex?" 

"I  mean  I'll  never  have  time." 

"But  you'll  win  this  fight,  and  then,  mercifully,  have 
time  to  think  of  other  things.  There  are  a  few  things 
besides  Suffrage  in  the  world  even  now,  you  know." 

"We  won't  have  so  much  more  time ;  perhaps  less.  Our 
work  will  only  just  have  begun." 

"Yes,  but  the  holy  martyr's  fire  will  have  burned  out  for 
want  of  something  to  feed  on.  Your  interests  will  be  more 
diverse,  at  least,  your  minds  less  concentrated.  Men  have 
time  to  fall  in  love,  you  may  have  observed.  You'll  all 
begin  to  look  about." 

"I  doubt  it.  We've  been  through  too  much  ever  to  be 
quite  like  other  women." 

"Nonsense,  Julia,  nonsense.  You  can't  get  ahead  of 
Nature.  She  may  take  a  back  seat  for  a  time,  but  she, 
being  really  unhuman,  never  sleeps.  She  watches  her 
chance  and  the  moment  it  comes  she  gets  her  fine  work  in. 
She  hits  good  and  hard,  too;  all  the  harder  because  she 
appropriates  to  herself  some  of  the  vengeance  of  the 
Lord." 

"That's  a  man's  reasoning,  but  it  is  beside  the  question 
as  far  as  I  am  concerned.  Insane  people  live  forever." 

"Have  you  any  prejudice  against  divorce?" 

"Rather  not.  One  of  the  first  things  we  accomplish  is  a 
reform  of  the  unjust  divorce  laws  of  this  country.  But  I 
doubt  if  even  women,  will  consent  to  the  divorce  of  the 
insane.  It  can  be  done  in  only  one  or  two  states  of  your 
own  country." 

"True.  But  a  marriage  can  be  annulled  if  it  is  shown 
that  one  of  the  parties  to  the  contract  was  insane  at  the 
time  of  marriage." 

"Marriage  can  be  annulled  on  the  same  ground  here, 
but  not  without  more  horrors  of  detail  than  any  woman 


DANIEL   TAY  381 

who  had  lived  with  a  man  for  eight  years  would  care  to 
suffer." 

"  A  simple  statement  would  be  enough  in  Reno  —  why 
do  you  laugh?" 

"I  have  heard  of  Reno  before." 

"Ah?"  Tay  sat  up  alertly.  "Who  else --who  has 
wanted  to  take  you  out  to  Reno  and  marry  you?" 

"Oh,  that  is  over  long  since.  He  remains  a  dear  friend, 
my  one  intimate  man  friend  —  except  you,  of  course  - 
but  we  never  meet  any  more  except  by  accident.  He  has 
great  responsibilities  and  is  a  good  deal  older  now.  It 
has  become  quite  impracticable.  Neither  of  us  would 
desert  England." 

"Did  you  ever  love  this  man?" 

"Not  enough." 

"What  is  he  like?" 

"Oh,  the  best  type  of  Englishman,  and  more,  for  he  has 
genius,  and  uses  it  in  the  interest  of  the  race." 

"Sounds  like  an  infernal  prig." 

"He  is  not!" 

"Oh!     Is  he  good-looking?" 

"Rather!" 

"Do  women  like  him?" 

"It  shows  how  really  remarkable  he  is,  that  he  has 
never  been  spoiled  by  them." 

"  Are  you  trying  to  make  me  jealous  ?  " 

"Of  course  I  am  not !  I  hope  I  have  pulled  all  my  petti 
ness  up  by  the  roots  —  long  ago  ! " 

"You  are  one  of  the  purest  types  of  female  I  have  ever 
met.  If  you  weren't,  you  wouldn't  radiate  charm  from 
every  electrical  hair  on  your  head."  He  had  been  trying 
to  stride  about  the  little  room.  He  stopped  short  and 
leaned  both  hands  on  the  table.  "  Julia,"  he  said,  "do  you 
want  to  know  exactly  what  I  think  of  you?" 

"What  could  be  more  interesting?" 

"I  think  you  are  a  magnificent  bluffer.  No,  don't 
flash  those  arc -lights  on  me.  I  mean  you  bluff  yourself, 
not  the  world.  You  are  sincere,  all  right.  But  you've 


382  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

hypnotized  yourself.  Ask  your  old  Mohammedan  if  I'm 
not  right.  He  gave  you  a  suggestion  or  two,  from  all 
accounts." 

"If  you  were  not  talking  nonsense,  I  should  be  angry. 
I'm  quite  well  aware  that  I  was  deliberately  prepared  for 
all  this,  and  long  before  I  went  to  India.  Wait  until  you 
meet  Bridgit ;  she'll  tell  you  her  part  in  it.  And  even  if 
I  were  hypnotized  ?  Are  not  we  all  more  or  less  ?  Hyp 
notized  by  the  currents  of  life,  by  its  waves  beating  on  our 
brains  ?  Some  are  drawn  to  one  current,  some  to  another. 
It  all  depends  upon  our  particular  gift  for  usefulness. 
This  happens  to  be  my  metier.  Sooner  or  later,  whether 
I  had  gone  to  India  or  not,  even  if  I  had  not  known  Bridgit, 
even  if  —  a  friend  had  not  written  the  book  that  started 
us  all  in  this  direction,  I  should  have  drifted  into  my 
current.  Only  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  steered  soon 
instead  of  late." 

"Not  bad  reasoning."  Tay  stared  at  her  for  a  moment, 
then  took  up  his  restricted  march.  "All  the 'same  there 
are  layers  and  layers  that  you  have  deliberately  covered 
up.  Pretended  they  are  not  there.  That  is  what  I  mean 
by  bluffing." 

"Oh,  you  don't  understand  us.  Wait  until  you  have 
met  twenty  or  thirty  more." 

"Yes,  wait!  I  don't  propose  to  know  even  one  more. 
And  I  don't  care  a  continental  for  the  whole  Militant 
bunch.  Not  even  rolled  into  one  magnificent  manifesta 
tion  of  sexless  sex.  I  am  quite  willing  to  believe  they  were 
born  that  way,  and  have  no  desire  to  dwell  on  the  thought. 
You  are  a  different  proposition." 

"Not  at  all." 

"Exactly.  When  a  woman  is  made  soft  and  beautiful 
and  dainty,  she's  made  for  man,  don't  you  make  any  mis 
take  about  that.  Nature  is  no  fool.  She  hasn't  so  much 
of  that  sort  of  material  that  she  can  afford  to  waste  it.  The 
number  of  undesirable  women  in  the  world  is  simply  appall 
ing.  Mind  you  -  '  as  Julia  nearly  overturned  the  table 
in  her  wrath,  "I  don't  argue  that  she's  made  for  that  and 


DANIKL    TAN  383 

nothing  else.  No  man  has  less  use  for  the  pretty  fool. 
Nor  have  I  a  word  to  say  against  this  cause  you  are  exer 
cising  your  talents  on.  Go  ahead  and  win.  It's  a  great 
cause,  and  deserves  a  good  deal  of  sacrifice  from  great 
women.  But  for  God's  sake  don't  go  on  making  a  fool  of 
yourself.  The  real  you  is  under  all  that  manufactured 
impersonal  edifice,  and  sooner  or  later,  it'll  wake  up  and 
knock  the  impersonal  edifice  into  a  cocked  hat." 

"Never  !"    Julia  sat  down  again. 

Tay  took  his  own  chair  and  leaned  across  the  table. 

"Julia,"  he  said.  "I  have  heard  you  speak  once.  I 
have  read  a  good  many  of  your  more  serious  speeches.  I 
have  had  a  great  many  letters  from  you,  all  —  except  those 
in  which  you  seemed  to  find  some  relief  in  your  Eastern 
experiences  —  on  this  one  subject.  You  have  given  a 
good  deal  more  than  concentration  of  mind  to  this  cause. 
You  have  given  it  an  amount  of  white-hot  passion  that  not 
one  woman  in  a  million  possesses.  What  are  you  going  to 
do  with  that  when  the  cause  is  won?" 

"You  are  describing  all  the  women  - 

"Damn  the  other  women.  Do  me  the  favor  to  leave 
them  out  of  the  conversation.  I  don't  happen  to  be  a 
fool,  and  if  I  haven't  managed  to  fall  in  love  all  these  years, 
that  doesn't  mean  I  know  nothing  about  women.  There 
is  a  certain  quality  of  mental  passion  that  springs  from  sex 
only.  Now  you've  got  it,  and  you've  got  to  reckon  with 
it.  When  do  you  expect  to  win  this  fight?" 

"This  year.  We  are  almost  sure  now  that  the  Govern 
ment  is  ready  to  yield,  but  doesn't  wish  to  appear  coerced. 
That  is  the  reason  we  shall  declare  a  truce." 

"Ah?  It  may  be  longer  than  you  think.  But  not  so 
very  long.  And  when  that  is  off  your  chest,  I'm  going 
to  marry  you." 

"You?    You're  not  a  bit  in  love  with  me." 

"I'm  not  so  sure.  I  came  over  determined  not  to  be, 
for  although  I  like  strong  women,  I  don't  like  'em  too  strong. 
But  your  personal  quality  is  stronger  still  —  magnetism  ? 
-call  it  what  you  like- 


384  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"Oh,  if  that  is  all,  you'll  soon  get  over  it.  Remember 
you  are  going  back  to  America  in  a  month  — " 

"Perhaps.  That,  however,  has  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
You  knocked  me  out  at  fifteen,  and  you're  about  to  do  it 
again.  What  have  I  waited  for  all  these  years?  I've 
felt  superstitious  about  it  before—" 

"I  don't  love  you  the  least  bit,  and  never  could."  And 
Julia  made  her  eyes  look  pure  steel. 

"Oh,  couldn't  you?  Julia—"  He  leaned  farther 
across  the  table  and  looked  into  the  steel  with  no  appre 
ciable  tremor.  "Julia,  play  the  part  you  look  for  just 
three  minutes  and  a  quarter." 

"Do  you  want  me  to  kiss  you?"  asked  Julia,  furi 
ously. 

"Don't  I?  I  want  nothing  so  much  on  earth,  not  even 
to  get  the  best  of  those  four-flushers  in  the  City." 

"Do  you  suppose  I'd  kiss  a  man  unless  I  intended  to 
marry  him?" 

"I  hope  not.  I'm  quite  ready  to  do  the  right  thing  by 
you." 

"  Oh,  I  wish  you  would  stop  joking.  It's  rather  indecent, 
anyhow." 

:<Not  a  bit  of  it.  And  what  do  you  suppose  I've  come 
into  your  life  for  ?  To  take  up  your  education  where  Mrs. 
Maundrell  and  your  Orientals  left  off.  I'm  part  of  the 
course.  I'm  inevitable.  And  if  I've  surrendered,  why 
shouldn't  you?" 

"  Surrender  ?  I  repeat  that  you  are  not  a  bit  in  love  with 
me." 

'And  I  repeat  that  I  am  not  so  sure.  After  we  parted 
the  other  day,  I  was  comfortably  certain  there  was  nothing 
in  it  for  me,  that  I  was  as  safe  as  a  cat  up  a  tree.  But  these 
last  two  days  — well,  I  began  to  be  uneasy.  I  wouldn't 
look  it  squarely  in  the  face,  but  I  was  haunted  with  the  idea 
of  something  wanting.  I  was  uncomfortable  away  from 
you,  that  is  the  long  and  the  short  of  it." 

"You  merely  wanted  some  one  sympathetic  to  talk  to. 
I  shall  introduce  you  to  all  my  old  friends." 


DANIEL  TAY 

"Delighted  to  meet  them.  Or  —  shall  I  chuck  business 
and  take  the  next  steamer  ?  " 

He  was  pale  now  and  staring  hard  at  her,  perplexity  and 
some  astonishment  deepening  in  his  eyes. 

"Good  idea,"  said  Julia,  coolly. 

"  You  provocative  little  -       Were  you  ever  a  coquette  ?  " 

"Of  course  not." 

"I  wish  I  had  been  ten  years  older  fifteen  years  ago. 
However-  He  threw  himself  back  in  his  chair.  "I'll 
not  cut  and  run.  I'll  be  hanged  if  I  do  know  whether  I 
love  you  or  not.  You've  a  physical  essence  that  goes  to 
the  head,  but  you  are  too  self-centred,  too  unified,  to  give 
the  complete  happiness  we  men  dream  of.  Fifteen  years 
ago!" 

"Do  you  mean  I'm  too  old?" 

"In  a  way,  yes.  You  have  lived  too  much  in  these  fif 
teen  years,  although  in  one  sense  you  haven't  lived  at  all. 
But  you  have  the  strength  of  ten  women,  and  a  man  would 
have  to  be  a  good  deal  weaker  than  I  am  to  want  that  much 
counterpoise.  And  yet  you  pull  me  like  the  deVil,  and  I 
have  admired  you  more  these  fifteen  years  than  any  woman 
on  earth  - 

"Really,  you  mustn't  disturb  yourself,"  said  Julia,  who 
was  now  so  angry  that  she  looked  merely  satirical.  "I 
should  not  marry  —  neither  you  nor  any  one  —  if  my  hus 
band  were  dead  and  the  cause  won.  Winning  the  vote  for 
women  is  merely  a  necessary  preliminary,  and  my  work  for 
them  but  a  part  of  an  ideal  of  development  I  conceived  even 
before  I  went  to  the  East.  I  have  a  theory  that  the  world 
will  not  improve  much  until  a  few  women  achieve  a  state 
of  moral  and  mental  perfection  far  ahead  of  anything  the 
race  has  yet  known.  Such  an  achievement  is  impossible 
to  man  because  he  is  either  oversexed,  or  the  reverse,  and 
in  both  cases  incapable  of  achieving  perfect  unity  in  him 
self,  and  absolute  strength.  But  to  woman  it  is  pos>H>lr. 
There  will  only  be  a  few  of  us.  Man  needn't  worry.  The 
world  will  always  be  full  of  the  other  kind.  But  to  stand 
alone  !  To  feel  yourself  equipped  to  accomplish  for  the 
ac 


386  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

world  what  twenty  centuries  of  men  have  failed  in  —  despite 
even  their  honest  endeavor  —  do  you  fancy  that  one  of  us 
would  exchange  that  great  work  for  what  any  mere  mortal 
could  give  us  ?  " 

4 'Whew  !"  Tay's  eyes,  that  had  looked  as  hard  as  her 
own,  flashed  and  smiled  as  he  sprang  to  his  feet  and  put  on 
his  overcoat.  He  held  out  his  hand. 

''Let's  cut  all  this  out  for  a  time,"  he  said.  " Perhaps 
you've  put  me  off,  and  perhaps  you  haven't.  Perhaps  you 
are  right.  But  if  you  are  not,  well,  out  to  Reno  you  go. 
Is  it  to-morrow  you  take  me  to  call  on  your  aunt  ?" 

"  Yes.     Will  you  come  here  ?  " 

"I  will.     Goodnight." 

After  he  had  gone  Julia  for  an  hour  stared  straight  at  the 
wall  as  if  deciphering  hieroglyphics.  Then  she  smiled  and 
went  to  bed. 


MRS.  WINSTOXE  had  put  on  her  new  intellectual  expres 
sion.  Her  lids  were  slightly  drooped,  thus  banishing  the 
young  stare  of  wonder;  her  brows  were  almost  intimate,  and 
she  had  powdered  her  nose  with  an  art  that  elevated  the 
bridge. 

When  Julia  and  Tay  arrived  at  the  house  in  Tilney  Street 
she  was  standing  beside  a  table  at  the  end  of  the  drawing- 
room.  One  hand  rested  lightly  upon  it,  the  other  held  a  slip 
of  paper.  On  her  left  sat  Mrs.  Maundrell  and  Lady  Dark, 
on  her  right  Mrs.  Flint,  a  working  woman  from  the  slums 
of  Bloomsbury,  and  an  eminent  leader  in  the  Militant  ranks 
of  her  own  class.  The  room  was  well  filled  with  charmingly 
gowned  women,  some  mildly  but  financially  sympathetic 
with  the  cause  of  Suffrage,  others  as  mildly  adverse.  All 
looked  mildly  expectant. 

"Aunt  Maria  said  nothing  about  this,"  whispered  Julia 
to  Tay.  "  We'll  sit  at  the  back  until  it's  over  —  that  is,  if 
you  think  you  can  stand  it." 

"I'll  do  my  best.     Like  you,  I  can  detach  my  mind." 

"Ladies,"  began  Mrs.  Winstone,  in  a  deep  grave  voice, 
and  not  seeing  Julia,  wondering  who  on  earth  the  attractive- 
looking  stranger  could  be,  "we  all  know  too  much  of  the 
great  cause  which  brings  us  together  to-day  for  me  to  waste 
any  words  on  its  history.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  —  a  - 
(she  referred  to  the  slip  in  her  hand)  "  it  is  now  a  cause  which 
no  woman  that  respects  herself  can  afford  to  ignore,  a  cause 
that  for  the  first  time  in  history  has  united  all  classes  of 
women  in  one  indissoluble  bond.  It  originate^  in  the  great 
middle  or  manufacturing  class,  eloquently  known  as  the 
backbone  of  England,  and  quickly  spread  to  what  is  in  our 
generation  the  most  powerful  of  all,  the  working  class. 
Thirty  members  of  this  great  class  sit  in  the  House  of  Com- 


388  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

mons,  but  their  better  part  is  still  clamoring  at  the  gates. 
I  refer,  of  course,  to  the  thousands  of  working  women  now 
enrolled  in  the  Militant  army.  One  of  these,  the  most 
—  a  —  distinguished  of  its  leaders,  has  kindly  consented 
to  talk  to  us  to-day.  She  has  her  scars  of  battle.  She  has 
stormed  the  house  of  the  Prime  Minister,  both  when  he 
lived  in  Cavendish  Square,  and  after  he  was  elevated  to 
the  more  historic  Downing  Street.  She  has  six  times  fought 
with  the  police  guarding  the  House  of  Commons,  and  three 
times  served  a  term  in  Holloway.  Her  recruits  are  num 
berless  -  Ladies,  allow  me  to  introduce  Mrs.  Flint." 

She  sat  down  and  spread  out  her  train.  Mrs.  Flint  rose 
amidst  the  pleasant  impact  of  kid,  and  Julia  murmured 
to  Tay  :— 

"A  fine  bluffer,  my  aunt,  if  you  like.  But  all  English 
women  seem  to  speak  well,  by  instinct." 

Tay  was  groaning  in  spirit,  but  soon  gave  his  ear  to  Mrs. 
Flint,  who  made  a  short  pointed  and  effective  speech. 
Her  restraint  and  simplicity  alone  would  have  commanded 
attention.  She  began  by  remarking  with  grim  humor 
that  she  had  not  been  at  all  worried  by  the  punching  and 
kicking  of  the  police,  as  her  husband  had  beaten  her  every 
Saturday  night  for  ten  years  until  he  disappeared,  leaving 
her  to  support  and  bring  up  seven  children  as  best  she  might. 
But  although  she  had  long  since  forgiven  him  for  all  this, 
it  being  quite  in  the  nature  of  things,  she  had  enjoyed  kick 
ing  the  policemen  back  and  clawing  when  she  got  her 
chance,  as  they  belonged  to  that  sex  which  had  ruined  the 
lives  of  two  of  her  girls:  one  had  flung  herself  into  the 
Thames,  and  the  other  come  home  with  her  child,  shattered 
in  body  and  mind.  Then,  dismissing  her  personal  affairs, 
she  .went  on  to  speak  of  the  wrongs  of  working  women  in 
general,  their  miserable  wages  for  men's  work,  and  the  new 
hope  that  filled  their  lives  at  the  prospect  of  women  being 
able  to  force  men  to  keep  their  election  promises  and  com 
mand  a  fixed  and  adequate  wage  for  women's  work,  shorter 
hours,  and  improved  social  conditions ;  conditions  at  pres 
ent  beyond  the  efforts  of  women  on  the  municipal  boards  or 


DANIEL  TAY  389 

even  of  the  Friendly  Societies.  There  was  no  ranting 
against  man.  Mrs.  Flint  recognized  that  he  couldn't  help 
himself,  having  been  born  that  way,  and  incapable  of  un 
derstanding  the  limited  endurance,  and  the  needs,  of  wo 
men  and  children.  She  paid  a  just  tribute  to  the  few  hu 
mane  and  enlightened  men  that  had  improved  conditions 
in  the  past,  but  added  that  she  saw  no  disciples  among  the 
present  men  in  power.  The  only  men  that  seemed  to  give 
any  thought  to  the  improvement  of  the  poor  were  the  So 
cialists,  and  they  did  nothing  but  talk  and  write  pamphlets. 
They  showed  nothing  of  the  life  and  the  fighting  spirit  of 
the  women  now  engaged  in  a  war  which  would  cease  only 
when  they  were  either  all  dead  or  victorious.  When  she 
had  illustrated  her  address  with  a  number  of  brief  but  ter 
rible  anecdotes,  she  finished  with  an  eloquent  appeal  to  her 
hearers  to  take  part  in  the  next  raid  on  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  should  the  Government  fail  to  keep  its  tacit  promise ; 
and  sat  down  amid  a  lively  applause,  as  sincere  as  her  speech. 

"By  Jove!"  said  Tay.  "A  working  woman  !  Wish 
you  could  see  ours.  But  we  have  the  scum  of  Europe. 
Mrs.  Flint  is  the  undiluted  British  article.  After  all,  it 
doesn't  speak  so  badly  for  your  men  that  such  women  have 
been  allowed  to  breed  in  this  country  —  also  your  own  lot. 
Ever  think  of  that?" 

"Rather,  and  they  must  take  the  consequences.  We 
prove  ourselves  the  more  logical  sex  inasmuch  as  we  demand 
the  logical  result.  Now  !  Bridgit !" 

Mrs.  Maundrcll  spoke  like  a  fiery  torrent,  rcenforcing 
Mrs.  Flint's  personal  experiences  with  several  of  her  own, 
garnered  when  she  had  worked  in  the  slums ;  and  impress 
ing  her  audience  with  their  duty  to  go  out  and  fight  to 
mitigate  the  lot  of  the  poor,  even  if  they  had  not  sufficient 
self-respect  to  demand  the  ballot  because  it  was  their  right 
on  general  principles. 

Ishbel  followed,  speaking  with  her  usual  calm  practical 
sense,  and  her  appeal  was  to  the  immediate  pocket.  The 
funds  of  the  unions  must  constantly  !><•  replenished,  and 
she  asked  all  present,  in  the  soft  accents  of  one  unaccus- 


39o  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

tomed  to  denial,  and  with  her  most  enchanting  smile,  to 
subscribe  liberally  to  the  union  represented  by  Mrs.  Flint. 
She  herself  would  distribute  the  promise  cards. 

"  When  I  go  back,"  said  Tay,  "  I'll  drum  up  all  the  useless 
beauties  I  know  and  start  a  class  for  their  education  in 
public  speaking,  and  in  thinking  of  something  besides 
themselves.  No  wonder  these  women  hit  the  bull's-eye 
every  time." 

And  he  cheerfully  parted  with  five  pounds  when  the  dis 
tracting  Ishbel  told  him  how  she  had  longed  to  meet  this 
old  friend  of  her  own  dear  friend,  and  begged  him  to  dine 
with  her  on  the  following  evening. 

"  And  you  really  must  take  advantage  of  this  truce,  dear, 
she  said  to  Julia,  "and  see  a  bit  of  the  lighter  side  of  hfe 
once  more.     '  We'll  just  a  family  party  —  like  old  times  ! 

"  Nigel  ?     Is  he  in  town  ?"  asked  Julia,  in  alarm. 

"  No^  he's  in  Syria ;  writes  from  some  hotel  on  Mount 
Carmell  I  believe  you  suggested  - 

"  Ah  !  At  last !  I  feared  he  never  really  would  care  for 
the  idea."  But  the  relief  in  her  voice  was  not  in  the  cause 
of  the  Bahai  religion. 

Here  Mrs.  Maundrell  bore  down  on  them,  and  her  eyes 
flashed  from  Tay's  face  to  Julia's  with  an  expression  of 
angry  misgiving.  But  Julia  was  cool  and  smiling  and 
shook  her  hand  heartily  and  protested  that  he  had  long 
thought  of  her  as  another  old  friend.  Mrs.  Maundrell  liked 
him  so  spontaneously  that  she  was  more  alarmed 

"Come  and  meet  my  aunt,"  said  Julia,  hastily,  and  bore 

11  Mrs  'Winstone,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  correspondence, 
almost  betrayed  her  surprise  as  the  two  approached  her, 
and  wondered  if  Julia  really  were  going  to  turn  out  a  woman. 
At  all  events  she  had  shown  taste  in  her  sudden  departure 
from  sixteen  years  of  inhuman  indifference.  The  hostess 
greeted  the  one  man  present  with  warmth.  ^  ^ 

"So  clad  you  could  come,  and  so  sorry  I  m  gom  away. 
It  would  have  been  too  jolly  to  know  Charlotte's  brother. 


DANIEL  TAY  391 

But  I'm  startin'  for  my  old  home  in  the  West  Indies  on 
Wednesday." 

"  What  ?"  cried  Julia.     "  You  never  told  me." 

"How  very  odd.  But  my  nerves  need  a  rest.  Hannah 
and  Pirie  are  goin'  with  me." 

"To  visit  my  mother  ?"  gasped  Julia. 

"Rather  not.  Bath  House  has  been  rebuilt,  in  part. 
They  are  goin'  to  take  the  baths  for  their  gout.  Any  mes 
sage  for  your  mother  ?  " 

"Give  her  my  love,  of  course." 

"Why  not  come  along  ? " 

"  Well,  you  see,  Aunt  Maria,  I  am  not  quite  casual  enough, 
if  I  am  English,  to  leave  my  party  on  a  day's  notice." 

"So  glad  I'm  not  a  leader.  I  always  do  what  I  want, 
without  botherin'  about  anybody  else.  Makes  life  so 
simple.  How  do,  Hannah  ?  Have  you  survived  it  ?  " 

Tay  had  been  swept  oil  into  a  vortex  of  suffragists  and 
antis,  all  arguing  with  determination.  Julia  sought  out 
Ishbel  and  had  a  talk  in  a  corner  with  that  ever  soothing 
friend. 


VI 

"JULIA,"  said  Tay,  as  they  emerged  into  Tilney  Street, 
"what  is  your  idea  of  something  real  devilish  ?" 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"I  mean  that  after  that  flow  of  soul,  I  am  in  a  mood  to 
whoop  it  up,  paint  the  town  magenta,  get  up  on  a  box  in 
Hyde  Park  and  holler,  but  not  to  suffragettes.  And  I  want 
your  company.  Can't  you  feel  that  way?" 

"Perhaps,"  admitted  Julia,  laughing.  "What  a  boy  you 
still  are." 

"Not  so  much  of  a  boy  as  you  think,  but  enough.  But 
I  don't  know  your  tastes  in  crime.  Give  me  a  hint,  and 
we'll  do  it." 

"I'm  afraid  I  haven't  any." 

"You  are  as  truthful  as  a  woman  can  be,  so  investigate 
your  possibilities  and  own  up.  Admit  that  under  my  de 
moralizing  influence  you  are  suffering  some  from  reaction." 

"I  believe  I  am."  Julia  laughed  again,  with  youth  in 
her  voice. 

"  I  surmised  as  much,  if  only  on  general  principles.  I  am 
subject  to  violent  reactions  myself.  You've  been  good  too 
long.  If  you  don't  take  a  mild  fling  or  two,  your  nervous 
system  will  dictate  that  you  rise  in  the  night  and  blow  up 
the  Prime  Minister.  Suppose  we  walk,  as  it  isn't  raining. 
That,  for  London,  is  almost  variety  enough.  Now,  if  you 
made  up  your  mind  to  go  on  the  wildest  spree  you  could 
think  of,  what  would  it  be  ?  A  French  ball,  with  a  hump 
and  a  limp ;  or  a  day  on  the  Thames,  if  it  happened  to  be 
summer,  all  alone  with  one  man  in  a  punt  ? 

"  Let  me  think."     Julia  had  quite  fallen  in  with  his  mood. 
"I  think  I'd  go  on  a  sort  of  platonic  honeymoon  with  the 
most  companionable  man  I  knew  —  you,  for  instance  - 
to  some  foreign  town,  one  I'd  never  visited,  and  where  we 
could  hear  the  best  music.     There  would  be  a  certain  excite- 

392 


DANIEL  TAY  393 

ment   in   avoiding   English   people  lest   they  misinterpret 
what  was  eminently  proper,  if  quite  irregular." 

"I  could  never  have  conceived  of  such  a  hilarious  pro 
gram.  But  if  that  is  your  best,  it  would  be  better  than 
nothing.  As  it  is  winter,  I  suppose  we  would  shiver  over 
our  respective  radiators  when  not  at  the  opera." 

"Oh,  there  are  always  the  museums  and  art  galleries  — 

"More  and  more  intoxicating.  My  idea  of  complete 
happiness  is  to  wear  out  my  old  shoes  and  the  back  of  my 
neck  in  art  galleries  - 

"As  it  is  winter,  think  of  the  exercise." 

"I  prefer  using  a  pair  of  dumb-bells  at  an  open  window. 
Do  you  happen  to  know  of  any  musical  European  town 
where  we  could  get  food  fit  to  eat?" 

"Oh,  there  is  always  some  good  restaurant,  and  of  course 
we  could  dine  together  - 

"And  breakfast,  and  lunch,  or  I  don't  go.  Of  course 
you'll  send  me  to  a  different  hotel.  Shall  you  take  a  sit 
ting-room  - 

"Oh,  that  wouldn't  do  at  all.  Besides,  it  wouldn't  be 
necessary.  We'll  be  out  all  the  time.  There  are  always 
the  theatres  at  night,  when  we  don't  go  to  the  opera." 

"As  I  don't  understand  a  word  of  any  language  except 
my  own  and  Spanish,  I  can  slumber  peacefully  while  you 
improve  your  mind  and  feel  wicked.  I  don't  see  where  I 
come  in  on  this  game." 

"Joking  aside,  Ishbel  and  Dark  are  going  to  Munich 
next  week,  and  we  might  go  along.  My  mind  is  a  bit  re 
laxed  since  the  arrival  of  your  upsetting  self.  It  might  be 
well  to  humor  it." 

"Ah  ! '  Tay  had  frowned,  but  his  brow  cleared  suddenly. 
After  all,  he  might  see  more  of  the  real  Julia  with  a  chaperon, 
than  if  she  were  tormented  by  recurring  alarms.  "Very 
well.  Munich,  by  all  means.  Anything  to  cut  you  loose 
from  Suffrage.  Promise  right  here  that  you  will  chuck  it 
until  we  return." 

"I  shall  try  to  forget  it  —  if  only  that  I  may  return  to 
it  with  a  mind  completely  refreshed." 


394  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

"Exactly.    But  I  haven't  yet  had  an  object  lesson  in 

your  switching-off  trick,  so  I'll  strike  a  bargain  with  you 

right  here :    if  you  mention  Suffrage,  I  shall  make  love  to 

you.     If  you  don't,  I  won't." 

"I  promise,"  said  Julia,  hastily.     "I  really  should  like 

to  feel  quite  young  and  frivolous  for  a  bit.     And  love  is  as 

deadly  serious  as  Suffrage." 

"So  you  will  find  when  I  get  ready  to  make  love  to  you." 
"  Can  you  get  away  —  I  thought  you  were  so  busy." 
"I'll  get  away,  all  right.     Just  as  well  to  jar  their  calm 

deliberation  by  flaunting  my  scornful  indifference.     Here 

we  are.     We'll  meet  to-morrow  night." 
And  they  parted  gayly  at  the  gates  of  Clement's  Inn. 


VII 

As  Ishbel  had  promised,  it  was  but  a  family  party  at  her 
house  on  the  following  evening,  and  after  dinner,  the  men 
went  to  the  billiard  room,  the  women  upstairs.  Julia  was 
to  stay  overnight,  and  after  she  and  Ishbel  had  made  them 
selves  comfortable  in  negligees,  they  met  in  the  boudoir 
for  a  talk.  Bridgit  was  striding  up  and  down  as  they  en 
tered,  her  hands  clasped  behind  her.  As  they  dropped  into 
easy  chairs,  she  took  up  her  stand  before  the  fire-screen. 

"Julia,"  she  said  fiercely,  "you  are  going  to  fall  in  love 
with  that  man." 

"I  am  in  love  with  him,"  said  Julia,  coolly,  lighting  a 
cigarette. 

"Good  !"  said  Ishbel.     "It  is  high  time." 

"High  time!"  cried  Mrs.  Maundrell.  "You  could  fall 
in  love  and  I  could  fall  in  love,  and  no  damage  done.  We 
have  married  Englishmen  and  gone  straight  ahead  with  our 
work.  But  not  only  is  Julia  the  leader  of  a  great  party 
which  demands  her  undivided  allegiance,  but  this  man  is 
an  American." 

"Perhaps  he  would  live  over  here,"  suggested  Ishbel, 
who  was  normally  hopeful.  "He  is  far  more  sympathetic 
with  our  cause  than  Eric." 

"Not  he.  He  is  more  American  than  the  Americans  — 
perhaps  because  he  is  a  Californian.  He  told  me  all  about 
his  fight  for  reform  in  San  Francisco  —  never  heard  any 
thing  so  exciting  —  and  he's  going  to  try  it  again  after 
they've  had  another  dose  of  corruption  under  the  present 
mayor.  Besides,  there's  going  to  be  a  big  fight  this  year 
to  put  in  a  reform  governor,  and  he  means  to  take  part  in 
it.  He'll  never  desert.  It  will  be  Julia  - 

"Don't  excite  yourself,"  murmured  Julia.  "I  didn't  say 
I  meant  to  marry  him." 

395 


396  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"But  why  not?"  asked  Ishbel.  "We  are  sure  to  win 
this  year,  and  then  you  will  have  done  your  great  work. 
We  should  always  need  you,  of  course,  but  it  will  be  mainly 
educational  work  for  a  long  time,  and  the  others  can  do 
that.  It  will  be  ages  before  women  get  into  a  Cabinet  or 
even  into  Parliament.  And  —  splendid  idea  —  you  could 
drill  the  American  women,  become  the  leader  over  there. 
With  your  experience  and  reputation  you  would  be  simply 
invaluable  to  them." 

"  Suppose  we  don't  win  this  year  ?  "  asked  Julia,  languidly. 

"We  won't!"  said  Mrs.  Maundrcll,  emphatically. 
"They're  merely  hedging.  There's  nothing  for  us  but  to 
fight  the  Liberals  at  every  general  election  until  we  get 
the  Conservatives  in." 

"I  don't  believe  it,"  said  Ishbel,  who,  like  many  of  the 
women,  was  certain  of  victory  in  that  year  of  1910  which 
was  to  bring  their  "Black  Friday."  "The  Government 
may  hate  us,  but  they  have  given  ample  proof  that  they 
fear  us ;  they  know  it  is  time  to  make  friends  of  us.  They 
will  consent  to  the  enfranchisement  of  only  a  limited  num 
ber,  of  course,  but  I  wouldn't  care  if  they  only  enfranchised 
the  wives  of  Cabinet  ministers.  Let  them  make  the  fatal 
admission  that  woman  has  a  political  and  legal  existence 
and  the  rest  is  only  a  matter  of  time." 

"Yes,  and  nobody  knows  that  better  than  themselves. 
They  may  be  brutes,  but  they  are  not  fools.  I  don't  hope 
for  it  —  perhaps  not  even  from  the  Conservatives  —  until 
fully  four-fifths  of  the  wives  of  this  country  have  risen  and 
devilled  the  lives  out  of  their  husbands.  And  the  average 
British  female  is  about  as  easy  to  wake  up  as  a  stuffed  hip 
popotamus.  She  merely  protrudes  her  front  teeth  and  says, 
'How  very  odd/'  No,  Julia  can't  leave  us.  Fatal  gift, 
that  of  leadership.  Must  take  the  consequences,  old  girl." 

"Who  said  I  wouldn't?  Women  have  fallen  in  love 
.without  marrying  before  this.  I  intend  to  remain  in  love 
for  a  fortnight  longer.  Then  I  shall  forget  it  and  return 
to  work." 

"Yes,  if  you  can.     I  fought,  fought  like  the  devil.     Didn't 


DANIEL  TAY  397 

I  confide  in  you  ?  Didn't  I  look  like  the  last  rose  ?  You 
are  strong,  but  so  am  I.  Let  me  tell  you  that  love  is  a 
disease  — 

"  Quite  so.  There  you  have  it.  Love  is  a  disease  —  of 
the  subconscious  or  instinctive  mind.  It  is  a  profound 
auto-suggestion,  induced,  in  the  region  where  the  primal 
instincts  dwell,  by  the  superior  suggestive  power  of  some 
one  else,  and  can  be  treated  mentally  like  any  disease  of 
the  body." 

Bridgit  flung  herself  on  the  floor  and  clasped  her  knees. 
"How  diabolically  interesting  !  Tell  us  how  you  do  it." 

Ishbel  smiled  and  lit  another  cigarette. 

"I  may  not  be  able  to  do  it  myself.  Love,  like  sleep, 
the  circulation  of  the  blood,  the  digestive  apparatus,  to  say 
nothing  of  drug  and  drink  habits,  is  controlled  by  the  sub 
conscious  mind.  We  can  unwittingly  give  ourselves  sug 
gestions,  but  not  deliberately.  But  all  mental  diseases, 
short  of  insanity,  can  be  cured  by  counter-suggestions,  ad 
ministered  by  an  expert.  If  I  found  that  my  will  was  help 
less  before  intermittent  attacks  of  love  fever,  and  all  that 
horrible  accompaniment  of  longing  and  aching  we  read 
about,  to  say  nothing  of  confusion  of  mind  which  unfits 
one  for  work,  I  should  go  to  Paris  and  put  myself  in  the 
hands  of  an  eminent  psychotherapcutist  I  know  of.  He 
would  throw  me  into  a  semicataleptic  state,  or  hypnotic, 
if  I  were  not  amenable  in  the  other,  and  give  me  counter- 
suggestions  until  I  was  as  completely  cured  as  if  I  merely 
had  had  an  attack  of  insomnia,  or  had  taken  a  drug  until 
it  had  weakened  my  will." 

"How  beautifully  simple  !  Why  didn't  you  tell  me  when 
I  was  in  the  throes,  and  doubtful  of  its  being  for  the  best  ?" 

"  I  didn't  think  of  it.  It  only  occurred  to  me  when  I  was 
beginning  to  feel  —  perplexed.  Now.  as  I  really  need  a 
rest,  and  can  take  it  in  this  interval  of  peace.  I  am  going  to 
see  what  the  preliminary  surrenders  are  like,  and  enjoy 
them.  That  much  I  owe  to  myself.  And  I  shall  not  have 
its  memory  destroyed,  neither." 

"No,  don't,"  said  Ishbel.     "Merely  have  it  put  in  cold 


398  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

storage.  Suspended  animation.  You  might  be  able  to 
marry  Mr.  Tay,  after  all.  It  would  be  a  pity  to  lose  it  al 
together.  Should  you  have  to  fall  in  love  all  over  again, 
or  should  you  go  back  to  your  psychowhatyoucallhim 
and  have  the  original  suggestions  replanted  ?  Will  he  keep 
them  in  alcohol  in  a  glass  jar  like  those  things  in  the 
Sorbonne?" 

"You  can  jest,  my  dear,  but  I  am  talking  pure  science. 
And  I  learned  it  at  the  fountainhead.  The  Anglo-Saxon 
world  is  slow  to  accept  anything  it  thinks  new,  but  sugges 
tive  therapeutics  were  practised  two  thousand  years  B.C." 

;<No  one  could  be  less  conservative  than  I,  although  I 
have  an  adorable  husband  and  two  babies.  Some  day  that 
may  be  thought  radical.  My  mind  is  hospitable  to  all  your 
lore,  but  I  want  to  hear  you  work  it  out  to  its  logical  con 
clusion.  What  shall  you  do  if  you  suddenly  find  yourself 
free  to  marry  Mr.  Tay  —  delightful  man  !  —  before  he, 
with  or  without  the  aid  of  psychos,  has  recovered  from 
you?" 

"I  have  other  reasons  for  intending  to  marry  no  man. 
And  as  for  Dan  —  he  is  not  even  sure  he  is  in  love  with 
me- 

|'Oh,  isn't  he?"  cried  Bridgit  and  Ishbel  in  chorus. 

"Well,  granted  he  is;  he  was  not  when  he  came  over. 
He  was  convinced  that  I  had  grown  hard  and  masculine, 
altogether  terrifying ;  he  was  quite  over  his  boyish  infatua 
tion.  Now,  he  is  attracted  because  he'  is  delighted  to  find 
me  not  so  much  changed  outwardly  from  his  old  ideal,  and 
much  more  interesting  to  talk  to.  Besides,  his  masculinity 
is  alert  at  the  prospect  of  a  difficult  hunt.  But  when  he  is 
once  mere  on  the  other  side  of  the  world,  he  will  recover." 

"Julia,"  said  Ishbel,  "you  haven't  studied  that  man's 
jaw-bones.  And  he  has  had  his  own  way  too  much.  He  is 
tenacious.  Now,  as  you  are  a  human  woman,  you  will 
adopt  my  suggestion.  You  will  take  him  with  you  to 
Paris,  and  persuade  him  to  go  in  for  alternate  treatments. 
Sauce  for  the  goose,  etc." 

"No,"  said  Julia,  frowning. 


DANIEL  TAY  399 

"Julia!"  said  Ishbel,  severely.  "Are  you  losing  your 
sense  of  humor?" 

"Of  course  not !"  Julia  sprang  to  her  feet.  "But,  you 
see,  all  this  is  A  B  C  to  me ;  and  as  it's  merely  funny  to  you, 
you  think  there  must  be  an  air  pocket  in  my  mind  into 
which  my  sense  of  humor  has  dropped  - 

"No,  dear,  not  a  bit  of  it.  We  all  know  that  you  learned 
more  in  the  East  than  you'll  ever  tell,  and  we've  heard  vague 
rumors  of  Charcot  — 

"Oh,  his  hypnotism  is  all  out  of  date.  The  present  men 
are  as  scientific  as  the  ancients  - 

"Well,  don't  be  too  hard  on  us,  Julia,  and  pity  Mr.  Tay. 
Take  him  with  you  to  Paris.  I  mean  it.  It's  the  least  you 
can  do." 

"I'll  not." 

"And  why  not,  dear?" 

"Oh,  you  see,"  said  Julia,  "the  unexpected  might  hap 
pen,  and  I  might  want  to  marry  him.  And  when  men  re 
cover,  they  recover  so  completely  ;  not  to  say  console  them 
selves  with  some  one  else.  I  shall  have  the  suggestion 
made,  that  if  I  ever  should  —  but  I'm  not  going  to  say  an 
other  word  about  it.  Good  night."  And  she  ran  out  of 
the  room. 

'  "I  don't  doubt  she  could  do  all  that,"  said  Ishbel,  as 
Bridgit  gathered  herself  up.  "But  one  thing  I  am  positive 
of,  and  that  is  that  she  won't." 

"I  rather  hope  she  will.  Then  we  can  have  a  private 
conference  with  the  psycho  and  tell  him  to  plant  the  haunt 
ing  image  of  Nigel  in  the  place  of  Tay,  dispossessed.  Then 
we'll  all  be  happy." 

"Do  you  believe  Nigel  cares  still  for  Julia  ?" 

"Don't   I?     But   he's   strong,    if   you   like.     He   can't 
marry  her  in  England,  so  he  thinks  of  her  as  little  as  pos 
sible  and  does  the  work  of  two  men." 
"But  if  he  can't  marry  her?" 

"I'll  tell  you  something  if  you'll  vow  not  to  tell  Julia  - 
or  Mr.  Tay." 
"Very  well." 


400  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"France  has  been  having  bad  heart  attacks.  I  have  it 
from  Aunt  Peg." 

"  Tulia  is  as  likely  to  hear  it  from  the  same  source." 

"Not  she.  The  duke  has  forgiven  her,  but  has  no  desire 
to  be  reminded  that  he  has  a  suffragette  in  the  family. 
Never  reads  the  Militant  news,  and  all  the  rest  of  it.  So 
Julia  spares  his  feelings  and  never  goes  there.  (I  spare 
him  the  sight  of  me  !)  I  don't  want  her  to  know  it  until 
Mr.  Tay  is  safely  at  home  in  his  absorbing  San  Francisco. 
It  would  never  do,  Ishbel.  I'd  like  to  see  Julia  happy  my 
self,  but  she  can't  leave  England.  And  she'd  be  happier 
with  Nigel,  for  he's  her  own  sort.  I  like  Mr.  Tay;  he's 
really  frightfully  attractive  —  but — after  Part  I  of  love-plus- 
matrimony  had  run  its  course,  they'd  have  a  bad  time 
adapting  themselves.  The  real  tyrants  are  the  masterful 
Americans,  because  in  their  heart  of  hearts  they  regard 
women  as  children,  handle  them  subtly,  won't  fight  in 
the  open.  Now  remember,  you've  promised.  If  Mr.  Tay 
found  out  that  France  was  likely  to  die  any  minute,  he'd 
'camp'  here,  as  he  expresses  it,  until  he  could  marry  Julia 
out  of  hand.  He  has  a  jaw,  as  you've  observed  yourself." 

"Yes,"  said  Ishbel.  "I've  promised,  but  I  rather  wish 
I  hadn't.  I  like  fair  play." 

"We  are  in  war,"  said  Mrs.  Maundrell,  coolly.  "Good 
night." 


VIII 

"JULIA!"  came  Tay's  voice  over  the  telephone.  "We 
arc  in  adjoining  hotels  !  I  never  felt  so  truly  wicked  in  my 
life!  How  do  you  feel?" 

"Cold.     My  stove  won't  warm  up." 

"  Mine  looks  like  a  polar  bear  on  end.  I  expect  it  to  open 
its  jaws  and  devour  me.  Wish  it  would  if  what  you  Eng 
lish  chastely  call  its  inside  is  warmer  than  its  out.  I've 
just  had  an  exhilarating  supper  of  cold  ham,  beer,  and 
double-barrelled  crusts,  which  appear  to  be  a  staple.  I  sup 
pose  you  have  had  precisely  the  same,  as  this  is  Germany 
and  the  hour  11.30  P.M." 

"Yes,  and  I'm  going  to  bed  this  minute  and  forget  it. 
Good  night." 

"One  minute.     To-morrow  morning ?" 

"Hadn't  we  better  wait  till  the  Darks  arrive?" 

"Not  much!  Do  you  think  I'm  going  to  moon  about  a 
strange  town  by  my  lonesome?  If  we  could  travel  to 
gether—" 

"There  are  so  many  English  people  in  Munich,  and  I  am 
in  the  position  of  Caesar's  wife  at  present  - 

"Don't  dare  to  mention  the  word  —  the  fatal  word. 
Now,  expect  me  to-morrow  morning  at  nine-thirty.  If  you 
are  not  downstairs  on  the  minute,  I'll  send  a  procession  of 
bell-boys  up  to  your  room  until  the  hotel  is  ringing  with 
the  scandal." 

"Very  well.     It  would  be  rather  stupid." 

"Glad  you  see  the  point.  By  the  way,  what  have  you 
told  the  police  you  are?  I  longed  to  write  anarchist  and 
see  what  would  happen.  I  compromised  by  writing,  '  Pro 
prietor  of  a  Free  Lunch  Counter  and  Antigraft  Sausage 
Factory." 

"You  didn't  I" 

2D  .;   i 


4C2  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"  Cross  my  heart." 

"I  hope  you'll  have  a  visit  from  the  police  first  thing  in 
the  morning.  I  wrote  '  Ward  in  Chancery ' ;  thought  that 
rather  funny." 

"Best  English  joke  I  ever  heard!  Well,  go  to  bed, 
Princess  of  the  Tower.  Mind  you  stay  on  it." 

Lord  Dark  had  been  detained  at  the  last  minute,  and 
Julia  easily  had  been  persuaded  to  go  on  alone  with  Tay. 
Both  had  made  merry  at  first  over  the  mock  elopement; 
but  the  trains  were  crowded  and  cold,  the  wait  at  Cologne 
was  long  and  colder  still,  and  both  were  unsentimentally 
relieved  to  arrive  at  their  destination.  Here,  at  least,  in 
the  beautiful  city  of  Munich,  they  really  could  enjoy  a  day 
or  two  of  complete  liberty.  Julia  had  not  had  the  faintest 
notion  of  secluding  herself. 

On  the  following  morning  as  Tay  left  his  hotel  he  saw 
her  waiting  in  front  of  her  own.  As  she  smiled  and  waved 
her  hand  he  experienced  a  slight  agreeable  shock.  "Aha  ! " 
he  thought.  "I  really  believe  she  has  switched  off.  For 
all  mercies,  etc." 

Julia's  eyes  were  dancing  with  anticipation,  the  firm 
lines  of  her  mouth  had  relaxed,  and  it  looked  even  younger 
than  when  he  first  met  her,  for  then  it  had  curved  with 
some  of  that  bitterness  of  youth  which  she  had  long  since 
outgrown ;  although  it  Kad  been  replaced  first  by  a  cynical 
humor  and  then  by  pride  and  determination.  This  morn 
ing  she  was  smiling  almost  as  she  may  have  smiled  through 
her  first  party  at  Government  House.  And  she  was  look 
ing  remarkably  pretty  in  her  forest-green  tweed,  and  the 
sable  toque  and  stole  she  had  taken  from  their  long  storage. 

"Did  you  ever  feel  such  air?"  she  cried.  "After  the 
heavy  dampness  of  London,  it  goes  to  one's  head.  I  can 
almost  see  the  Alps,  as  well  as  feel  them." 

"It's  positively  immoral,  this  climate,"  said  Tay,  shaking 
her  hand  vigorously.  "How  do  people  ever  sleep  here? 
Now  I  know  why  they  drink  so  much  beer  —  to  keep  their 
feet  on  the  earth." 

"We'll  walk  miles  and  miles." 


DAMKL    TAY  403 

"So  we  will.  Sorry  I  couldn't  keep  my  engagement  with 
you  for  breakfast,  but  they  fairly  shoved  that  frugal  meal 
into  my  bed.  When  we  have  walked  a  few  hours,  we'll 
drop  in  somewhere  and  eat  veal  sausages  and  drink  choc 
olate.  That,  I  am  told,  is  the  proper  stunt  about  eleven 
o'clock.  Certainly  in  this  climate  one  could  digest  the 
maternal  cow  between  meals." 

They  had  been  walking  briskly,  but  paused  at  the  Maximil- 
ianplatz.  The  closely  planted  trees  and  shrubs  of  the  long 
narrow  park  were  covered  with  ice  and  glittered  blindingly 
in  the  bright  winter  sunshine.  Even  the  tall  houses  on  the 
further  sides  of  the  streets  that  enclosed  it  had  icicles  de 
pending  from  the  windows,  glittering  with  the  prismatic 
hues.  Overhead  soft  thick  masses  of  cloud  hung  below 
the  deep  rich  blue  of  the  sky.  People  were  hurrying  along 
in  their  furs,  the  shop-windows  were  full  of  color.  A  royal 
carriage  passed,  as  blue  as  the  sky,  and  an  old  man  saluted 
his  loyal  subjects. 

Tay  whistled. 

"Lucky  for  you  it's  so  hard  to  get  married  in  a  foreign 
town,  or  my  promises  might  go  up  in  smoke.  This  is  just 
the  place  for  a  honeymoon." 

"Isn't  it?  Let's  imagine  we  are  just  married  and  doing 
Europe  for  the  first  time." 

"You  can  do  the  imagining,"  said  Tay,  dryly.  "My 
imagination  will  take  a  well-earned  rest  fojf  the  present. 
We'll  return  to  Munich  later." 

They  wandered  about  the  narrow  crooked  shopping  dis 
trict  for  a  time,  then  up  the  wide  Ludwig  strasse,  almost  de 
serted  at  this  hour. 

"Good  clean  street,"  said  Tay,  approvingly.  "And  I 
like  these  flat  brown  old  palaces.  They  look  like  Italy 
without  suggesting  daggers  and  poison." 

Julia  didn't  answer,  and  Tay  looked  at  her  curiously. 
Her  head  was  thrown  back,  her  mouth  half  open,  as  if  in 
haling-  the  crystal  air.  There  was  a  faint  pink  flush  in  her 
white  cheeks,  and  her  lips  were  scarlet.  Her  shining  happy 
eyes  were  moving  restlessly,  as  if  to  take  in  all  points  of  the 


404  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

beautiful  street  at  once.  Tay  was  about  to  ask  her  a  ques 
tion  that  had  been  in  his  mind  since  they  started,  when  she 
caught  him  suddenly  by  the  arm. 

"Look  !"  she  exclaimed.  "Do  you  see  that  party  there 
across  the  street  ?  They  have  skates  !  I  remember  now, 
Ishbel  said  there  was  fine  skating  in  the  park.  Oh,  how  I 
should  love  to  skate  once  more  !" 

"Then  skate  !"  cried  Tay.     "We'll  follow  them." 

"  But  of  course  you  don't.     There  is  no  ice  in  California." 

"But  of  course  I  do.  You  forget  I  spent  four  winters 
in  New  England.  Let  me  tell  you,  I  didn't  miss  a  trick." 

"Do  you  fancy  we  can  hire  skates?" 

"I  fancy  we'll  skate  if  you  want  to.  Come  along.  We 
mustn't  let  them  out  of  our  sight." 

They  followed  the  group  of  girls  and  boys  into  the  Eng- 
lischer  Garten,  a  vast  and  glittering  expanse  of  ice-laden 
trees.  The  lake  was  already  well  covered  with  skaters, 
young  people  for  the  most  part,  as  it  was  Saturday,  wearing 
worsted  sweaters,  scarfs,  and  mits,  and  all  looking  very 
red,  very  ugly,  and  very  happy  in  a  stolid  deliberate  way. 
Tay  found  skates  without  difficulty,  and  after  a  few  min 
utes  uncertain  practice,  they  skimmed  smoothly  over  the 
surface. 

"I  wish  we  had  it  to  ourselves,"  said  Tay,  discontentedly. 
"  If  it  were  not  for  these  unromantic  mortals,  we  could  imag 
ine  we  were  in  a  sort  of  polar  fairy  land.  I've  seen  the 
ice-storm  in  New  England  but  never  on  such  a  scale.  We 
are  quite  in  the  middle  of  a  frozen  wood." 

"If  the  people  of  Munich  were  as  artistic  about  them 
selves  as  they  are  about  their  city,  they  would  all  dress  in 
white  for  skating.  Then  what  a  sight  it  would  be!  But 
at  least  they  look  happy." 

"So  do  you." 

"lam,  oh,  lam!" 

"May  I  ask  if  it  is  because  you  have  the  rare  privilege 
of  a  day  in  my  exclusive  society  ?  " 

"Partly  that.  But  not  all.  Can  you  make  curves?  I 
never  shall  forget  my  delight  when  I  skated  for  the 


I)  AN  ILL    TAY  405 

first    time  —  after    being    brought    up   in    the     tropics ! 
Fancy!" 

"  Perhaps  it  didn't  take  so  much  to  make  you  happy  in 
those  days." 

"Oh,  far  more!  Far,  far  more!  I  have  been  really 
happy  since  then." 

"  If  you  don't  mind  what  you  call  it." 

"Where  do  you  suppose  the  swans  go  in  winter?" 

"Haven't  an  idea,  and  care  less.     Look  out !" 

They  almost  collided  with  a  large  corsetless  lady  in  a 
white  sweater,  a  red  woollen  scarf  tied  round  her  purple 
face,  and  a  gray  skirt  exhibiting  massive  pedestals.  She 
glared  at  the  fashionable  intruders,  but  described  a  curve 
of  surprising  agility,  although  as  she  propelled  herself  to 
the  other  side  of  the  lake  she  gave  the  impression  of  wad 
dling. 

Julia  snatched  her  hand  from  Tay's  and  shot  after  the 
expansive  back.  "Catch  me!"  she  cried.  And  for  the 
next  twenty  minutes  Tay  pursued  her,  sometimes  almost 
heading  her  off,  sometimes  almost  grasping  her  waving 
hand,  only  to  find  her  flying  to  the  other  end  of  the  lake. 
She  looked  like  an  elf,  with  her  green  dress  and  golden  hair, 
and  was  not  for  a  moment  lost  sight  of  in  the  undistinguished 
throng.  Tay,  whose  blood  was  up,  chased  her  until  he 
finally  brought  her  to  bay,  when  she  threw  herself  down  on 
the  bank  and  held  out  her  skates  to  be  unbuckled. 

"Good  symbol,"  said  Tay,  as  he  knelt  before  her,  "I'll 
catch  you  every  time,  my  lady.  Don't  ever  try  running 
away,  or  you'll  merely  get  tired  for  nothing." 

"I'm  the  better  skater!" 

"You  are.  But  I'm  a  good  sprinter.  Do  you  want  to 
race  me?" 

"Rather!" 

He  delivered  up  the  skates,  and  when  they  reached  a 
straight  expanse  of  road,  they  drew  a  long  breath,  hunched 
their  shoulders,  and  started  on  a  dead  run. 

To  Tay's  surprise  she  kept  abreast  of  him  for  nearly  fifty 
yards,  making  up  for  what  she  lacked  in  length  of  limb  with 


4o6  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

a  fleetness  of  foot  that  gave  her  the  effect  of  a  bird  in  full 
flight.  Then  he  shot  past  her,  and  came  back  to  find  her 
panting,  but  with  dancing  eyes. 

"I  am  so  hungry  !"  she  cried.  "Is  it  time  for  sausages 
and  chocolate?" 

"It's  time  for  lunch,  or  whatever  they  call  it  here.  Do 
you  suppose  we  can  find  a  cab  ?  Much  as  I  dote  on  exercise 
I  think  a  cab  after  coffee  and  rolls  some  three  hours  agone 
would  suit  me." 

"Where  shall  we  lunch?" 

"I'll  sample  your  hotel,  if  you  don't  mind,  and  you  will 
dine  with  me." 

"And  afterward  we  must  go  to  one  of  the  big  cafes  for 
coffee.  That  is  the  proper  thing." 

"You  shall  have  your  way  in  trifles  so  long  as  I  have 
beaten  you  twice." 

They  found  a  cab  near  one  of  the  gates  of  the  park,  and 
drove  as  rapidly  to  the  hotel  as  the  fat  driver  and  lean 
horse  could  be  persuaded  to  go,  and  both  too  hungry  for 
further  nonsense.  They  had  an  admirable  luncheon,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that  it  was  not  the  "high  season,"  and 
then  were  directed  to  the  Cafe  Luitpold  for  their  coffee. 
It  was  full  of  students,  the  "trees"  covered  with  their 
caps  of  every  color,  and  the  atmosphere  dense  with  smoke. 
They  found  a  table  in  an  alcove,  and  Julia  lit  a  cigarette 
with  the  agreeable  sensation  of  having  come  at  last  to  the 
real  Bohemia. 

"Now,"  said  Tay,  "I've  got  you  where  you  can't  escape, 
and  there  are  no  English  people  to  overhear.  I  propose  'to 
know  what  you  think  you  are  this  morning.  You  arc- 
playing  some  sort  of  a  part,  and  a  charming  enough  part 
it  is,  but  for  complete  enjoyment  I  must  be  on.  I  only 
half  understand.  Out  with  it." 

Julia  leaned  her  head  against  the  wall  and  smiled. 

"I  don't  mind  telling  you  in  the  least.  I  am  just  eigh 
teen,  and  I  have  just  arrived  from  Nevis.  I  never  had  time 
to  be  really  young,  you  know.  So  here  is  my  oppor 
tunity." 


DANIEL  TAY  407 

"You  look  the  r61e,  but  how  —  well,  you  are  young 
enough  in  any  case ;  but  how  do  you  manage  to  relight  the 
eighteen  candles?  You've  lived  some  since  then.  I 
couldn't  do  it !" 

Julia  smiled  mysteriously.  "We  never  really  exhaust 
any  phase,  particularly  of  youth.  It  is  merely  stowed  away 
waiting  for  the  current.  Mine  leaped  up  at  the  first  signal. 
You  appeared  with  the  battery,  and  presto !  " 

"You  suppressed  it  mighty  well  for  quite  two  weeks." 

"Oh,  I  could  have  buried  it  deeper  still,  but  I  didn't 
choose  to.  I  deliberately  shook  it  out  of  its  cave  where 
it  was  comfortably  hibernating,  and  put  all  the  rest  in  its 
place." 

"Why  didn't  you  do  it  before?  I  can't  be  the  first 
young  and  ardent  admirer  you  have  met.  You  are  thirty- 
four  —  you  have  been  free  eight  years  —  it  is  incredible. 
Is  it  merely  the  first  good  chance  you  have  had  ?  I  don't 
know  whether  I  like  being  your  stalking  horse  or  not." 

Julia  leaned  her  elbows  on  the  table  and  looked  him 
straight  in  the  eyes. 

"That  has  something  to  do  with  it,  but  not  all.  If  you 
had  come  a  year  earlier,  when  I  couldn't  have  left  for  a 
minute,  it-would  have  been  different,  of  course.  But  there 
was  this  sudden  lull,  and,  you  see,  I  am  frightfully  in  love." 

The  shot  was  so  unexpected  that  Tay  turned  white, 
then  the  red  rushed  to  his  face.  He  had  been  lounging. 
He  sat  up  stiffly  and  leaned  forward. 

"Julia!'  he  said.  "Be  careful.  I  shan't  stand  for 
any  flirting." 

"Oh,  I'm  much  too  young  to  flirt  —  I  mean  I  hadn't 
heard  the  word  when  I  left  Nevis.  Of  course  I'm  in  love 
with  you  —  fancy  I  have  been  for  years.  I  don't  mind  in 
the  least  if  you  no  longer  are  in  love  with  me." 

"I'm  in  love  all  right,  but  I'd  like  mighty  well  to  know 
which  of  the  several  Julias  you've  treated  me  to  I'm  in 
love  with." 

"Don't  you  like  this  one?" 

"I'd  like  nothing  better  than  to  know  that  you  really 


4o8  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

were  eighteen  and  that  I  could  teach  you  all  you  would  ever 
know." 

"  You'll  teach  me  all  I'll  ever  know  about  love." 

"Ah!" 

4 'The  past  is  a  blank  as  far  as  I  am  concerned.  I  can 
wipe  anything  off  the  slate." 

"  I  don't  know  —  I  don't  know  -  Charming  as  you  are 
now,  I  found  you  enchanting  fifteen  years  ago,  and  quite  as 
fascinating  in  another  way  when  we  met  again.  I  don't 
think  I  want  the  other  Julias  obliterated." 

"But  you  can  stand  this  one  for  a  week?" 

"I'll  ask  for  nothing  better  —  for  a  week.  But  —  some 
how —  you  look  almost  too  young  to  know  what  love  is. 
You  look  like  a  child  pretending." 

"I  am  and  I'm  not.  I  can't  annihilate  the  years,  but  I 
can  send  them  to  the  rear,  and  put  youth,  and  all  that 
means  when  it  has  its  rights,  in  front  —  and  keep  it  there 
as  long  as  I  choose." 

Tay  stirred  uneasily.     "I've  seen  women  of  thirty - 

-forty  —  in    love    before    this,    and    they    always    look 

rejuvenated  —  but  —  well,    I   wish   you    had    never   lived 

those  years  in  the  Orient.     You've  got  yourself  too  well 

in  hand.     It's  uncanny." 

"Oh,  if  you  prefer  me  as  the  general  of  a  Militant 
army,"  and  she  drew  herself  up,  her  features  arranged 
themselves  in  an  expression  of  stern  composure,  her  eyes 
were  steady  and  exalted,  and  her  mouth  subtly  older. 

"Drop  it!"  said  Tay,  savagely.  "Drop  it!  That  at 
least  you  are  to  cut  out  for  good  and  all.  I'm  quite  content 
with  you  as  you  are  —  Julia's  face  was  relaxed  and 
smiling  once  more.  "It  is  enough  to  know  your  possi 
bilities.  Remain  as  you  are  until  you  have  developed 
under  my  tuition;  and  forget  your  Oriental  learning 
also." 

"That  is  just  the  one  thing  I  never  would  part  with. 
Without  it  I  should  be  no  match  for  you." 

"Tell  me  one  thing  right  here.  Do  you  fancy  yourself 
something  more  than  mere  woman  ?  I  mean  did  those  old 


DANIEL  TAY  409 

wiseacres  in  the  East  convince  you  that  you  were  a  soul 
reincarnated  for  a  purpose,  even  before  they  taught  you 
too  much  of  their  psychic  lore?  I  don't  know  whether  I 
like  the  idea  or  not.  Living  with  a  reincarnated  immortal 
soul  several  hundred  million  years  old,  developed  that 
much  beyond  ordinary  women,  might  not  be  all  that  a 
mortal  man  desires.  How  in  creation  could  I  ever  live 
up  to  you?" 

"  Don't  look  so  far  ahead.  Do  I  look  like  anything  but 
a  very  mortal  woman  at  the  present  moment?" 

"You  look  so  adorable  that  if  there  were  a  little  more 
smoke  in  this  room  I  should  kiss  you.  But  —  you  little 
devil !  —  you  have  chosen  the  most  public  place  in  Munich 
to  tell  me  all  this,  and  you  waited  until  you  got  out  of 
England,  where  I  did  have  a  chance  to  see  you  alone  - 

"Of  course.  Love-making  would  spoil  it  all.  Nothing 
can  ever  be  as  enchanting  as  just  being  in  love  and  asking 
for  no  more." 

"Can't  it  ?  Well,  you  can  have  your  little  comedy  here, 
and  I'll  take  matters  in  my  own  hands  when  we  get  back. 
You've  got  things  all  your  own  way  now  —  hang  it ! 
hang  it!' 

"Can't  you,  too,  feel  young  and  irresponsible?  You 
really  would  be  happy,  and  make  me  happy.  And  it  would 
be  something  to  remember  ! " 

"I  feel  more  like  going  out  and  getting  drunk.  How 
ever  —  have  your  own  way.  I'll  play  up  - 

"No,  feel." 

"No  doubt  I  shall.  Your  utter  youth  was  contagious 
enough  this  morning.  I've  got  some  will  myself.  But 
say  it  again  -  Is  it  possible  that  you  really  love  me?" 

"Yes,  I  do,"  said  Julia,  softly.  "Never  let  that  worry 
you." 


IX 

THEY  spent  the  following  day  wandering  with  the  crowds 
that  fill  the  Munich  streets  on  bright  Sundays,  and  the 
Darks  arrived  at  midnight.  The  next  morning  they  all 
went  to  the  lake,  this  time  finding  a  very  different  class  of 
skaters  in  possession.  Munich  has  a  small  fashionable  set 
whose  members  dress  as  fashionable  people  do  everywhere. 
To-day,  the  women  in  their  short  cloth  or  tweed  frocks 
and  rich  furs,  their  faces  rosy  with  cold  and  exercise,  en 
hanced  the  glittering  beauty  of  the  landscape;  and  the 
young  officers  were  quite  as  decorative. 

"Some  class,"  said  Tay.  "In  Europe  there's  no  choice 
between  the  aristocrats  and  the  peasants.  In  my  country, 
now,  you  couldn't  take  your  oath  that  all  these  birds  of 
paradise  weren't  clever  shop-girls,  until  you  got  close 
enough  to  take  notes.  But  here  even  a  snub-nosed  baron 
ess,  dressed  like  a  housekeeper,  shows  her  class." 

"That's  about  all  we've  got  left,"  said  Dark.  "You 
helped  yourself  to  a  sort  of  ready-made  imitation  of  it,  as 
you  did  to  everything  else  it  took  us  twenty  centuries  to 
grind  out.  Think  you  might  be  generous  and  give  us  a 
little  hustle  in  return.  Can  I  help  you,  Mrs.  France?" 

He  buckled  on  her  skates  and  they  joined  the  throng  on 
the  ice,  Tay  following  with  Ishbcl.  Lord  Dark,  something 
in  the  fashion  of  his  wife,  was  a  man  of  almost  romantic 
appearance  covering  a  practical  character  and  a  keen  alert 
brain.  He  was  as  pure  a  Saxon  in  type  as  still  persists, 
with  fair  hair  and  moustache,  straight  proud  features,  and 
languid  blue  eyes  in  thick  brown  frames.  His  tall  figure 
was  lean  and  sinewy,  but  carried  listlessly.  Thrown  on  his 
own  resources,  he  would  not  have  been  driven  on  to  the 
stage,  out  to  South  Africa,  or  become  a  vague  "something 
in  the  City";  he  would  deliberately  have  applied  himself 

410 


DANIEL  TAY  411 

to  the  science  of  money- making  and  mastered  it,  his  ends 
accelerated  by  his  indolent  manner,  so  tempting  to  sharpers. 
Having  inherited  a  considerable  fortune,  he  was  content 
with  a  career  on  the  turf.  His  racing  stud  was  notable, 
and  rarely  a  year  passed  without  adding  to  its  reputation, 
He  also  amused  himself  with  politics  and  society.  Devoted 
to  Ishbel  for  years  before  he  could  marry  her,  he  was  now 
as  completely  happy  as  a  man  may  be  whose  wife  is  giving 
a  large  part  of  her  energies  to  a  cause  of  which  he  fastidi 
ously  disapproves.  Broadminded,  he  was  quite  willing 
that  all  women  outside  of  his  particular  circle  should  vote, 
but  wished  that  his  ancestors  had  settled  the  question 
and  spared  his  generation.  Astute  in  all  things,  however, 
he  not  only  gave  his  wife  her  head  up  to  a  certain  point, 
but  of  late  had  done  what  he  could  to  help  rush  the  thing 
through  and  have  done  with  it.  Ishbel,  like  Julia,  was 
pledged  to  ignore  the  detested  subject  during  this  brief 
vacation. 

"Jolly  place,  Munich,"  he  observed.  "We  always 
come  here  in  August  for  the  Wagnerfeste.  You  see  all 
Europe  as  well  as  hear  good  music  in  comfort,  which  is 
more  than  you  could  ever  say  of  Baireuth.  We've  never 
been  here  in  winter  before.  Have  you  read  up  a  bit  ? 
There  ought  to  be  good  winter  sports  in  the  mountains." 

"Rather.  I  don't  fancy  Mr.  Tay  was  here  an  hour 
before  he  discovered  there  was  tobogganing  (Yodelling) 
and  skiing  at  Partenkirchen.  He's  talked  of  little  else." 

"Good  !    Then  we'll  be  really  happy  for  a  week." 

Meanwhile  Ishbel  was  gently  extracting  a  declaration 
of  Tay's  intentions  toward  Julia  by  the  diplomatic  method 
of  assuming  all. 

"It  is  too  dreadful  that  you  will  take  Julia  from  us," 
she  said  plaintively.  "Couldn't  you  live  in  London?" 

"Not  yet."  Tay  turned  upon  her  a  face  of  almost 
boyish  delight.  "But  if  she'll  really  have  me,  we  could 
come  over  every  summer.  Do  you  think  she  will?" 

"In  the  end,  of  course.  I've  known  Julia  for  sixteen 
years,  and  waited  for  her  to  fall  in  love.  She  never  does 


4i2  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

anything  by  halves.     But  she  may  think  she  can't  leave 
England  yet." 

"I  wish  these  women  didn't  take  themselves  so  seri 
ously,"  said  Tay,  viciously.  "One  would  think  the  fate 
of  England  depended  on  them." 

Ishbel  laughed.  "How  like  Eric!  But  we  are  used 
to  the  sixteenth  century  masculine  attitude.  It  wouldn't 
matter  so  much  about  me,  except  that  every  one  of  us  helps 
to  swell  the  total,  but  Julia  is  a  great  leader,  with  a  wonderful 
power  of  attracting  attention,  making  recruits,  and  inspiring 
her  followers.  We  couldn't  spare  her  if  the  fight  was  to  go 
on,  but  if  it  is  won  this  year  —  well,  I  have  told  her  to  go 
and  leave  the  rest  to  the  other  women  in  command." 

"Oh,  you  have  !     Bully  for  you  !     What  did  she  say?" 

"  She  wouldn't  commit  herself.  If  I  were  you,  I'd  simply 
marry  her." 

"So  I  shall,  if  I'm  convinced  she  really  cares  for  me." 

"You  don't  doubt  it?" 

"I  don't  know.  She's  a  puzzle  to  me.  Sometimes  I 
think  she's  the  most  natural  being  on  earth,  and  at  others  — 
well  —  the  so-called  complex  women  aren't  in  it." 

"She's  both,  but  none  the  less  interesting." 

"Oh,  she's  interesting,  all  right.  But  she's  become 
such  an  adept  at  bluffing  herself  that  I  doubt  if  she  always 
knows  just  where  she's  at.  Just  now  she's  bluffed  —  or 
hypnotized  ?  —  herself  into  thinking  she's  interested  in 
me.  But  I  have  an  idea  she  could  switch  off  in  the  opposite 
direction  as  easily." 

"Julia  is  a  bit  odd,"  admitted  Ishbel.  "Especially  since 
she  came  back  from  the  East.  Even  before  she  went,  she 
wasn't  much  like  anybody  else,  owing,  no  doubt,  to  that 
strange  old  mother  of  hers ;  but  au  fond  she's  the  most  loyal 
and  sincere  of  mortals.  And  it  takes  matrimony  —  a  love- 
match  —  to  clear  a  woman's  brain  of  cobwebs.  Marry  Julia 
and  take  her  to  the  young  world,  and  I'll  venture  to  say  she'll 
forget  all  she  learned  in  the  East,  and  a  good  part  of  her  in 
heritance.  Then  she'll  be  the  most  charming  of  women." 

"That's  the  way  I  talk  to  myself  when  I'm  not  in  the 


DANIKL    TAY  413 

dumps.  But  do  you  really  want  her  to  marry  an  Ameri 
can?  It  would  be  more  like  you  to  want  to  keep  her 
over  here." 

"I  did  once  plot  and  scheme  to  make  her  marry  a  very 
dear  friend  of  us  all,  Lord  Haverfield  —  Nigel  Herbert  - 
you  must  have  read  his  books." 

"Ah!" 

"That  was  rather  imprudent  of  me.  But  it's  all  over 
long  ago.  Julia  never  cared  for  him,  and  I  have  always 
said  that  when  she  did  care  for  any  man,  I'd  turn  match 
maker  in  earnest  and  do  all  I  could  to  help  him  marry  her 
-  that  is,  if  I  liked  him  —  and  we're  all  quite  in  love  with 
you."  She  flashed  the  sweetness  of  her  charming  counte 
nance  on  him,  and  he  thought  her  almost  as  beautiful  as 
Julia.  "I  want  her  to  be  happy,  for  she  was  once  terribly 
unhappy.  Her  experience  was  truly  awful  - 

"I  never  want  to  think  of  it,"  said  Tay,  hastily.  "I 
refuse  to  remember  that  she  has  ever  been  married.  Look 
at  here  —  will  you  promise  to  be  on  my  side  if  she  goes  off 
on  one  of  her  tangents?" 

"I  will!"  and  she  gave  his  hand  a  little  shake.  She 
longed  to  tell  him  that  France  might  die  any  minute,  but 
she  had  once  more  given  her  word  to  Bridgit,  and  could 
only  hope  that  France  would  take  himself  off  before  Tay 
left  England.  "But  if  the  worst  comes  to  the  worst,  I'll 
get  round  it  somehow,"  she  thought. 

A  moment  later  a  rapid  change  of  partners  was  effected, 
Tay  threw  his  arm  lightly  round  Julia's  waist,  and  they 
waltzed  down  the  lake  to  the  amazement  of  the  less  agile 
Germans. 

"Suppose  you  look  up,"  said  Tay.  "If  you're  blushing 
because  I  have  my  arm  round  you  for  the  first  time,  I'd 
like  to  see  it." 

Julia  laughed-and  threw  back  her  head.  She  was  blush 
ing,  and  her  eyes  sparkled.  "I'll  admit  I  never  felt  so 
happy  in  my  life." 

"Are  you  as  much  in  love  with  me  as  you  were  two  days 
ago?"  he  asked  dryly. 


414  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"Oh  —  rather  more,  I  think." 

"If  you  like  the  sensation  of  my  arm  round  you  at  a 
temperature  of  ten  above  zero,  in  full  view  of  all  Munich, 
can  you  imagine  the  ineffable  happiness  of  being  kissed  by 
me  in  the  vicinity  of  one  of  those  tiled  stoves  with  the 
door  shut?" 

"Then  if  all  these  people  should  suddenly  disappear, 
you  wouldn't  care  to  kiss  me  in  the  midst  of  this  enchanted 
wood?" 

"I'd  kiss  you  wherever  I  got  a  chance,  and  what's  more 
I'll  do  it.  So  prepare  yourself." 

"Your  promise  !" 

"Promise  nothing.  I  absolve  myself  right  here.  And 
you  talk  Suffrage  if  you  can ! " 

"Alas,  I  don't  want  to.  But  I  shan't  let  you  make  love 
to  me." 

"Oh,  yes,  you  will,  —  when  and  where  I  please." 

Julia  looked  a  little  frightened.  "Oh,  no  —  we  mustn't 
go  that  far  - 

"  You  merely  want  to  flirt  and  make  me  miserable  ?  Well, 
I've  had  just  as  much  of  that  as  I  propose  to  stand.  You're 
laying  up  a  frightful  retribution,  my  lady."  He  tightened 
his  clasp  and  drew  her  as  close  as  the  skates  would  permit. 
"Be  consistent,"  he  whispered.  "You  are  eighteen.  You 
remember  nothing.  We  are  really  engaged,  you  know. 
You  are  mine  this  week.  We  have  four  days  more.  Put 
that  imagination  of  yours  to  some  good  use.  Believe  that 
we  are  to  be  married  this  day  fortnight." 

"If  I  go  too  far  —  you  would  never  forgive  me." 

He  laughed  grimly.  "If  you  go  that  far,  you'll  go 
farther.  Of  course  I  understand  you.  It's  a  proof  of  the 
adorable  innocence  you  have  managed  to  preserve  that 
you  don't  know  what  playing  with  fire  means  to  the  man. 
You  propose  to  abandon  yourself  discreetly,  get  a  certain 
excitement  out  of  words  and  coquetry  while  we're  here 
safely  chaperoned,  and  then  throw  me  down  hard  in  the 
cause  of  duty  when  we  return  to  London.  Well,  that's 
not  my  program.  Now,  we'll  say  no  more  about  it." 


DANIEL  TAY 

They  climbed  up  the  interior  of  the  great  statue  Ba 
varia,  in  the  afternoon,  to  gaze  at  the  tumbled  peaks  of  the 
Alps  glittering  through  the  haze  that  promised  fine  weather. 
Then  the  women  rested  for  the  opera  of  the  evening,  and 
Tay  and  Dark  smoked  in  one  of  the  cafes,  talked  horse 
and  business,  and,  incidentally,  drifted  into  a  friendship 
that  was  to  lead  to  strange  results.  Dark  had  influential 
friends  in  the  City  and  promised  Tay  his  immediate  assist 
ance  in  bringing  his  prospective  partners  to  terms.  Tay, 
who  liked  sport  as  well  as  most  American  men,  although 
he  had  little  time  to  devote  to  it,  forgot  that  he  was  in  love 
while  " swapping"  stories  of  the  race-track.  Both,  secretly 
despising  the  other's  nationality,  discovered  that  when 
men  are  men  they  are  pretty  much  the  same  the  world  over. 
They  cemented  the  bond  by  cursing  Suffrage  with  all  the 
epithets,  profane,  picturesque,  savage,  and  humorous,  in 
their  respective  vocabularies,  and  left  the  cafe  arm  in  arm, 
feeling  that  they  had  talked  woman  back  into  her  proper 
sphere  and  that  all  was  well  with  the  world. 


X 

THOSE  were  the  last  days  of  the  Munich  Opera-house  in 
all  its  glory.  Mottl,  prince  of  conductors,  was  alive; 
Fay,  Preuse-Matzenauer,  Bosetti,  Bender,  Feinhals,  the 
incomparable  Fassbender,  sang  every  week,  and,  now  and 
again,  Knote  and  Morena.  To-day  death  and  disaster 
have  overtaken  that  great  company,  and  few  are  left  to 
make  the  pilgrimage  to  Munich  worth  while. 

"  Die  Walkiire  "  was  given  on  Monday  night,  and  included 
nearly  all  of  the  staff.  The  hotel  portier  had  reserved 
seats  for  the  English  party  in  the  first  row  of  the  balkon, 
and  they  had  a  full  view  of  a  typical  Wagnerian  audience. 
In  these  days,  owing  no  doubt  to  the  American  residents, 
the  entire  auditorium,  as  well  as  the  balkon  and  loges,  was 
well  dressed.  No  more  did  the  hausfrau  come  in  her  street 
costume  of  serviceable  stuff  turned  in  at  the  neck  with  a 
bit  of  tulle,  but  made  shift  to  wear  a  demitoilette  of  sorts, 
and  light  in  color  even  if  of  mean  material.  The  fashion 
able  Muncheners  outdressed  the  Americans  and  occupied  the 
first  row  of  the  balkon  and  the  loges.  Even  the  royalties 
presented  a  far  better  appearance  than  in  the  old  days, 
and  the  large  number  of  officers  present  alone  would  have 
given  the  house  a  brilliant  appearance.  The  upper  tiers 
were  picturesque  with  the  girl  students  in  their  Secessionist 
costumes  and  bazaar  heads,  the  men  with  their  untidy 
hair  and  flowing  ties.  But  the  crowning  grace  of  the 
"Hof "  at  all  times  is  that  no  one  is  allowed  to  enter  after 
the  overture  begins,  nor  dares  to  speak  until  the  curtain 
goes  down. 

Julia  had  carefully  arrayed  herself  in  her  most  becoming 
gown,  a  white  Liberty  satin  under  pale  green  chiffon,  so 
casual  in  effect  that  it  looked  as  if  held  together  by  the 
sheaf  of  lilies-of-the-valley  on  the  corsage.  Ishbel  was 

416 


DANIEL  TAY  417 

resplendent  in  black  velvet  and  English  pink;  and  the 
party  was  the  cynosure  of  the  audience  below,  standing 
with  its  back  to  the  stage  and  frankly  inspecting  the  balkon 
until  the  last  bell  rang  and  the  lights  went  out. 

The  tenor  was  wrenching  the  sword  from  the  tree,  and 
Fay  was  standing  with  her  famous  arms  rigidly  aloft,  in 
one  of  the  prescribed  Wagnerian  attitudes,  when  Tay  saw 
Julia  move  restlessly,  sit  forward  with  a  frown,  and  then 
sink  back  with  an  expression  of  sadness  so  profound  that 
he  longed  to  ask  what  ailed  her  now,  but  had  no  desire 
to  be  hissed  down  or  put  out  by  the  fat  doorkeeper.  When 
they  were  in  the  buffet,  however,  during  the  first  pause, 
and  he  had  walked  up  two  trains  and  nearly  lost  his  cuff 
links  in  a  determined  effort  to  procure  ices,  and  they  were 
alone  at  a  table  in  a  corner,  he  referred  to  the  incident, 
if  only  to  prove  that  no  performance,  no  matter  how  great, 
could  divert  his  attention  from  her. 

"Oh,  I  was  only  thinking,"  said  Julia.  "I  wonder 
where  the  Darks  are?" 

"  Engaged  in  a  wrestling  match,  probably.  Aren't  you 
always  thinking?  What  struck  you  so  suddenly  in  the 
middle  of  that  alleged  dramatic  scene  where  the  fat  man, 
purple  in  the  face,  was  struggling  to  get  a  tin  sword  out  of 
a  paper  tree  and  trying  to  sing  at  the  same  time  ?  Never 
was  so  excited  in  my  life." 

Julia  laughed.     "I  was  sure  you  were  not  musical.' 

"You  insult  San  Francisco.  We  are  the  most  musical 
people  in  America.  The  very  newsboys  whistle  the  opera 
tunes.  But  I  like  to  see  a  decent  sense  of  the  proprieties 
observed.  Those  two  could  have  said  all  they  had  to  say 
in  five  minutes.  Set  to  music,  it  should  take  about  fifteen. 
However  -  Tell  me  what  struck  you  all  of  a  heap." 

"Oh  — well  — I  - 

"Shoot!" 

"What?" 

"More  slang.     Fire  away." 

"Do  you  expect  to  know  all  my  thoughts?" 

"I  don't,  but  I'd  like  to." 


:. 


4i8  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

"I  wonder!  However  —  I  don't  mind  telling  you.  It 
occurred  to  me  rather  forcibly  how  much  simpler  women's 
problems  were  in  those  days.  Two  young  people,  isolated 
from  the  world,  meet  and  spontaneously  fall  in  love.  They 
are  creatures  of  instinct,  and  ignorant  of  any  law  except 
Might.  A  sleeping  potion  in  the  savage  husband's  nightly 
horn  settles  that  question,  and  they  run  away  into  the  forest 
and  are  happy  —  would  be  happy  forever  more  if  let 
alone.  But  in  these  complicated  days  —  all  our  obstacles 
are  inside  of  us !  Any  one  can  find  courage  to  defy  the 
primitive  and  obvious  - 

''Plenty  of  primitive  people  right  in  the  midst  of  civili 
zation,"  interposed  Tay,  grimly. 

"Yes,  I  know,  and  in  your  country  divorce  is  easy.  But 
for  the  highly  civilized,  life,  even  with  divorce,  is  anything 
but  easy.  Women  question  that  condition  called  happi 
ness  when  it  would  appear  to  offer  itself,  examine  it  on  all 
sides.  They  know  men  too  well  —  life — above  all,  them 
selves.  Or  they  have  assumed  impersonal  duties  and 
responsibilities.  Or  their  brains  have  become  so  complex 
that  love  alone  cannot  satisfy.  They  would  have  love  plus  far 
more  !  If  the  choice  must  be  made,  they  dare  not  cast  for 
love,  in  their  fear  of  disaster.  Nothing  is  so  dishonest  as 
the  so-called  psychological  novel,  which  leaves  two  thinking 
moderns  in  each  other's  arms  at  the  end  of  a  forced  situa 
tion,  with  their  natures  unchanged,  all  their  problems  - 
their  inner  problems  —  unsolved.  They  never  can  be 
solved  by  love,  marriage,  children,  the  good  old  way.  The 
sort  for  whom  all  problems  can  be  treated  by  the  conven 
tional  recipe  are  not  worth  writing  about.  But  it  is  a 
terrible  proposition ;  for  these  highly  civilized  women 
have  the  automatic  desires  of  their  sex  for  love  and  happi 
ness  —  intensified  by  imagination  !  But  —  they  know  that 
a  greater  need  still  is  to  fill  their  lives  and  use  their  brains." 

Tay  had  turned  pale.     "The  modern  man,  unless  he  is 
an  ass,  gives  his  wife  her  head." 

"That  is  beside  the  question.     The  real  trouble  doesn't 
sound  particularly  attractive  when  put  into  plain  English : 


.  DANIEL  TAY  419 

it  is  the  raising  of  the  ego  to  the  nth  power  that  makes  these 
women  want  to  stand  alone,  resent  the  idea  of  finding  com 
pletion  in  a  man." 

"Then  let  us  pray  that  they  will  all  die  old  maids,  and 
their  race  die  with  them.'' 

"No  hope  !     Children  of  the  most  commonplace  parents 
are  the  products  of  their  times.     Heredity  is  modified  from 
generation    to   generation.     Otherwise,  we   should    all    be 
Siegmunds  and  Sieglindes.     Their  little  brains  are  impreg 
nated  by  forces  seen  and   unseen.     Hadji   Sadra  would 
explain  it  by  the  theory  of  reincarnation,  or  by  planetary 
conditions  at  birth  —  the  only  reasonable  explanation  of 
Shakespeare,  by  the  way,  if  he  wasn't  Bacon.    But  although, 
no  doubt,  many  of  the  great  do  return  to  complete  their 
work,  there  are  not  enough  to  go  round.     And  there  is  a 
simpler  explanation.     In   these   vibrating   days   the   very 
air  is  flashing  and  humming  with  secrets  for  those  that 
have  the  magnet  in  their  brains.     Bright  minds  learn  from 
life,  not  from  their  old-fashioned  parents.     Oh,  the  breed 
will  increase,  not  diminish  !     Happiness,  old  style,  is  about 
done  for.     Women  will  be  happier  in  consequence  —  or 
in  another  way.     I  don't  know  about  men.     They  have 
reigned  too  long.     And  then  they  are  simple  ingenuous 
creatures,  the  most  tyrannical  of  them,  and  pathetically 
dependent  upon  women.     Women  are  growing  more  inde 
pendent  every  day,  more  indifferent  to  that  sex  'manage 
ment'  of  men,  which  so  far  has  constituted  a  large  part  of 
man's  happiness." 

Tay  was  angry,  therefore  more  jocular  than  ever. 
"Don't  forget  the  adaptability  of  even  the  male  animal, 
also  that  man  is  born  of  woman ;  also  brought  up  by  her. 
I.  don't  worry  one  little  bit  about  the  future  happiness  of 
man.  As  for  the  Home  —  apartment-houses  and  the  de 
cline  and  fall  of  servants  have  about  relegated  it  to  the  last 
stronghold  of  the  old-fashioned  love  story  —  the  country 
town.  I  said  just  now  that  I'd  like  to  know  all  your 
thoughts.  Well,  I  shouldn't.  My  idea  of  happiness  is  a 
lit\  time  with  a  woman  who  would  always  be  more  or  less 


420  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

of  a  mystery,  who  would  have  her  own  life  —  inner  and 
outer  —  as  I  should  have  mine.  And  I'm  not  so  sure  that 
mine  would  be  simple  and  ingenuous.  Marriage  with  her 
would  be  a  sort  of  intense  personal  partnership,  with  sepa 
rations  of  irregular  recurrence  and  length.  Then,  my 
lady,  there  would  be  a  constant  ache ;  passion  would  never 
wear  itself  out ;  and  neither  would  be  looking  for  novel 
affinities  elsewhere." 

Julia  smiled.  "It  sounds  very  enticing.  But  that 
isn't  the  point.  The  subtlest  enemy  —  it  is  that  desire  to 
find  our  highest  completion  alone." 

"A  bully  good  phase  for  the  next  world.  Something  to 
look  forward  to.  The  Fool's  Paradise  in  this  life  is  the 
grandest  failure  on  record.  Men  and  women  are  not 
constituted  to  perfect  by  their  lonesomes.  Otherwise  the 
mutual  attraction  of  sex  would  not  be  what  it  is.  No 
woman  that  a  man  wants  was  ever  intended  to  complete 
herself;  nor  can  she  become  so  highly  developed  in  this 
life  as  not  to  find  it  quite  safe  to  follow  her  instincts  on  her 
own  plane." 

The  second  bell  had  rung  and  the  buffet  was  nearly 
empty.  He  leaned  across  the  table  and  brought  his  face 
close  to  hers.  "If  you  are  dead  sure  that  I  never  could 
make  you  happy,  that  you  never  could  love  me,  that  you 
haven't  a  human  instinct  that  I  could  gratify,  then  chuck 
me.  But  if  you  are  only  psychologizing  on  general  prin 
ciples,  then  chuck  that  as  fast  as  you  can.  I  don't  want 
to  hear  any  more  of  it,  and  I  shan't  pay  any  more  attention 
to  it  hereafter  than  if  you  were  speculating  about  possible 
grandchildren  inheriting  a  taste  for  drink  from  your  brother. 
Switch  off  !  You  are  eighteen." 

Julia  sprang  to  her  feet  with  a  laugh,  her  seriousness 
routed.  "Right  you  are  !  Come,  or  we'll  be  locked  out." 

Both  Dark  and  Tay  stolidly  refused  to  remain  for  the 
last  act,  and  the  party  went  to  the  best  of  the  restaurants 
for  the  supper,  which  was  to  take  the  place  of  dinner ;  the 
opera  had  begun  at  six  o'clock.  The  meal  was  cooked  by 
a  chef,  and  they  lingered  over  it  until  long  after  the  Wag- 


DANIEL  TAY  421 

ncrites  were  in  bed.  Dark  and  Tay  were  in  the  best  of 
spirits,  for  however  they  might  love  music,  they  loved 
dinner  more;  Julia  and  Ishbel,  who  were  disposed  to  be 
sulky,  soon  recovered,  and  the  party  was  so  gay  that  even 
the  yawning  waiters  smiled  and  felt  sure  of  recompense. 
When  they  finally  left  the  restaurant,  Munich  might  have 
been  the  tomb  of  its  history.  Not  a  cab  was  on  the  rank. 
Not  a  policeman  was  to  be  seen.  When  they  reached  the 
small  paved  square  before  the  loggia,  Dark  threw  his  arm 
about  Julia,  and  they  waltzed  until  Tilly  must  have  longed 
to  step  down  and  join  them.  A  delighted  giggle  did  come 
from  the  sentry-boxes  before  the  side  portals  of  the  palace 
as  Tay  and  Ishbel  followed  the  example  of  their  com 
panions.  It  is  not  often  that  the  Munich  night  is  dis 
turbed  by  anything  more  original  than  roistering  students. 
The  moon  was  out,  the  cold  air  crisp.  They  could  have 
danced  for  an  hour,  but  Ishbel  suddenly  reminded  them 
that  they  were  to  start  for  Partenkirchen  in  a  few  hours, 
and  they  raced  one  another  to  their  hotel. 


XI 

THEY  spent  the  rest  of  their  week  at  Partenkirchen,  a 
village  in  a  mountain  valley,  surrounded  by  a  chain  of 
glittering  peaks.  The  village  was  little  more  than  one 
steep  street  bordered  by  inns  and  shops,  but  there  were 
farms  in  the  valley  and  on  the  nearer  hillsides.  The 
natives  wore  high  fur  caps,  not  unlike  the  cossack  headgear, 
and  seemed  to  exist  for  decorative  purposes  only,  although 
alive  to  the  lure  of  tourist  silver.  The  hotel  at  the  top  of 
the  street  was  very  modern,  with  a  good  cook,  little 
balconies  for  those  that  would  enjoy  the  view,  and  many 
nooks  in  the  rooms  downstairs  for  those  that  would  talk 
unhindered  if  not  unseen.  At  this  season  there  were  no 
other  English  or  Americans,  but  a  sufficient  number  of 
Europeans  of  the  leisure  class  to  make  the  dining-room 
brilliant  at  night  and  animated  at  all  times. 

Julia  and  Ishbel  had  provided   themselves  with  short 
white  skirts  of  thick  material,  white  men's  sweaters,  and 
white  Tarn  o'  Shanters.     The  men  couldn't  wear  white, 
but  looked  their  best,  as  men  always  do,  in  rough  moun 
taineering   costume.     They   climbed,    skated,    skied,    and 
tobogganed ;   and,  under  Julia's  gentle  manipulation,  kept 
close  together.     It  was  natural  that  Tay  should  fall  to 
Ishbel  in  their  outings,  and  only  once  or  twice  did  he  manage 
to  drag  Julia's  sled  up  the  hill,  or  direct  her  uncertain  foot 
steps  when  on  the  snow-shoes.     Then  she  was  so  excited 
with  the  new  sport  that  she  paid  little  attention  to  him. 
She  threw  herself  into  it  with  the  zest  of  a  child,  and  he 
couldn't  flatter  himself  that  her  merry  laugh  was  forced, 
nor  the  dancing  lights  in  her  eyes.     Nor  was  he  depressed 
himself  by  any  means;   the  tonic  air  went  to  the  heads  of 
all  of  them,  and  they  enjoyed  themselves  with  an  abandon 
possible  only  to  those  that  have  seen  too  much  of  life.      ? 
But  on  the  last  day,  Ishbel,  who  saw  through  Julia  s 


422 


DANIEL  TAY  423 

manoeuvres,  deliberately  stayed  in  bed  with  a  headache, 
and  Dark,  without  warning  of  his  intention,  departed 
early  with  a  guide.  Tay  and  Julia  met  alone  at  the  break 
fast  table. 

"Now!"  he  saidgayly.  "I've got  you.  What  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it  ?  If  you  shut  yourself  up  in  your  room, 
I'll  break  the  door  down." 

"As  if  I'd  do  anything  so  silly.  How  I  wish  we  could 
stay  here  a  month." 

"Why  not?" 

"I  left  no  address,  and  I  may  have  stayed  too  loner  al 
ready—" 

"Sh-h!" 

"You  could  not,  either." 

"Oh,  yes,  I  could.  Dark  has  been  pulling  wires,  and 
I'm  dead  sure  now  that  the  thing  will  go  through." 

"I'm  so  glad  !  But  no  doubt  you  could  have  managed 
it  by  yourself  sooner  or  later.  I  fancy  you'll  always  be  a 
success  in  business." 

"Thanks.  If  you  mean  to  insinuate  that  business  and 
cards  are  in  the  same  class,  I'm  not  a  bit  discouraged." 

"  Pour  me  out  another  cup  of  coffee.  I  believe  American 
men  like  to  wait  on  women." 

"It's  part  of  our  game.  You  see  how  honest  I  am. 
You'll  marry  me  without  illusions." 

"Shall  you  boss  me  frightfully?"  Julia  looked  at  him 
over  her  cup,  and  he  nearly  dropped  his.  He  kept  his 
bantering  tone,  however. 

"The  more  you  do  for  me,  the  more  I'll  spoil  you.  It 
will  be  quite  an  exciting  race.  How  should  you  like  being 
spoiled  for  a  change?" 

"It  would  be  glorious.     So  irresponsible." 

"Exactly.  That's  what  makes  many  a  man  get  drunk. 
Few  sensations  so  delightful  as  that  of  complete  irre 
sponsibility." 

"Do  you  get  drunk  ?"  asked  Julia,  in  mock  alarm. 

"Gorgeously.  Am  I  not  a  good  San  Franciscan?  Not 
too  often,  however.  Bad  for  business." 


424  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"You  never  told  me  if  you  went  on  that  spree  when 
you  got  those  ten  thousand  dollars.  Or  didn't  you  get  it  ? 
Perhaps  you  anticipated,  and  your  father  wouldn't  —  what 
did  you  call  it  —  plunk  ?" 

"I  didn't,  and  he  did,  and  I  did.  I  whooped  it  up  for 
just  five  days.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  I  didn't  find  as  much 
in  it  as  I  expected,  but  felt  I  owed  it  to  myself.  Wish  new 
I'd  come  over  and  eloped  with  you." 

"Ah!"  Julia  made  a  rapid  mental  calculation.  He 
would  have  arrived  at  about  the  time  Nigel  was  laying  his 
last  desperate  siege.  Poor  Nigel!  Julia  could  picture 
Tay's  wooing  and  methods.  Would  he  have  won  where 
her  more  courtly  knight  had  failed  ? 

"Suppose  I  had  never  turned  up?"  asked  Tay.  abruptly. 
"That  husband  of  yours  can't  live  forever,  is  many  years 
older  than  you,  anyhow.  Do  you  fancy  you  would  have 
eventually  married  Herbert?  Corking  books!  He  must 
be  some  man." 

Julia  had  flushed  to  her  hair.  "How  did  you  know  J 
was  thinking  of  him?"  she  stammered. 

"Were  you?  Well,  those  flashes  happen,  you  know. 
You  haven't  answered  my  question." 

"It  is  quite  impossible  for  me  to  tell,  even  to  imagine, 
what  I  might  have  done  if  you  —  well,  if  you  had  not  come 
over  again.  I've  never  really  thought  of  marrying  Nigel, 
but  there  would  be  a  certain  rest  in  it  —  not  now,  but  later, 
perhaps.  And  we  think  and  work  with  much  the  same 
objects." 

"Nothing    in    rest    till    you've    had    the    other    thin; 
first.     How    much    thinking    did    you    expend    on    that 
other  thing  before  you  were  submerged  in  the  unmention 
able?" 

Julia  blushed  again,  then  laughed.     "Oh,  well  —  some 
day,  I'll  tell  you  a  funny  experience  I  had  in  India." 
"Tell  me  now." 

"  Over  empty  coffee-cups  and  fragments  of  buttered  rolls  7 
Not  I.  What  shall  we  do  first  ?  Skate  ?  " 

"If  you  like.     Do  you  want  to  toboggan  afterward  t 


DANIEL  TAY  425 

"I  think  I'd  like  a  tramp  through  the  woods.  We've 
never  really  investigated  them." 

"Good.     Come  along." 

They  found  the  lake  deserted  and  skated  in  silence  until 
Tay  remembered  her  promise. 

"This  is  a  sufficiently  romantic  spot  for  confidences,"  he 
observed.  "And  in  full  view  of  the  waiters  of  the  hotel, 
who  appear  to  have  nothing  to  do  but  watch  us.  Tell  me 
your  Indian  experience.  Whom  did  you  think  you  were 
in  love  with  over  there?" 

"Nobody.     That  was  the  trouble." 

"Did  he  love  and  ride  away,  perhaps?  That's  just  the 
sort  of  experience  you  need." 

"Well,  I've  never  had  it,"  said  Julia,  indignantly. 

"A  man  never  minds  telling  when  he's  been  left,  but  I 
doubt  if  a  woman  ever  admits  it  even  to  herself.  You're 
weak-kneed  creatures,  the  best  of  you,  and  need  nine-tenths 
of  all  the  vanity  there  is  in  the  world  to  keep  going." 

"I  believe  you  really  despise  women.  But  you're  just 
the  sort  that  couldn't  live  without  them." 

"Right  and  wrong.  I  shan't  explain  that  cryptic  state 
ment.  Fire  away." 

"You'll  laugh  at  me." 

"If  I  really  could  laugh  at  you,  I'd  behalf  cured.  I  try, 
but  it  does  no  good.  What  would  be  funny  in  another 
woman  is  tragic  in  you  —  and  pathetic." 

"Ah?"  She  was  prepared  to  be  indignant  again,  but 
met  a  new  expression  in  the  eyes  with  which  he  was  intently 
regarding  her.  "What  do  you  mean  by  that?  I  am  not 
to  be  pitied." 

"You  poor  isolated  child!  I've  never  felt  sorrier  for 
anybody  in  my  life.  But  never  mind.  Tell  me  your  Indian 
experience." 

"Well  —  one  night  —  a  warm  heavenly  Indian  night  - 
I  was  alone  in  a  boat  on  a  lake.     There  was  a  great  marble 
palace  at  one  end.     The  nightingales  were  singing  in  the 
forest ;  and  such  perfumes  ! " 

"Gorgeous!    Why  wasn't   I   there?    Some   fun,   love- 


426  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

making  in  southern  Asia.  But  this  is  just  the  setting  for 
real  enjoyment  of  the  story.  Go  ahead." 

"Yes,  I  never  could  be  in  a  sentimental  mood  in  this 
temperature.  Well,  I  was  completely  happy  --  I  had  been 
happy  for  nearly  a  year  in  India,  enjoying  its  strange  beauty 
and  never  wishing  for  a  companion.  It  was  happiness 
enough  to  be  alone  and  free.  But  that  night  —  suddenly 
-  I  felt  furious- 

"Ah  !   I  begin  to  catch  on." 

"I  wish  you  wouldn't  always  guess  what  I'm  going  to 

say." 

"Shows  I'm  the  real  thing.     Go  on." 

"  I  did  wish  with  all  my  soul  —  every  part  of  me  —  that 
I  had  a  lover  and  that  he  was  there.  Heavens,  how  I  could 
have  loved  him  !  I  felt  abominably  treated  by  fate.  Up 
to  that  time  I  hadn't  even  thought  about  love.  My  ex 
perience  had  been  too  dreadful.  I  had  felt  sure  that  all 
capacity  for  love  had  been  withered  up  at  the  roots.  When 
a  man  looked  at  me  as  men  do  look  at  women  they  admire 
very  much,  it  was  enough  to  make  me  hate  him.  But  I 
suddenly  realized  all  that  had  passed.  I  had  comedo  the 
conclusion  that  Harold  had  been  mad  from  the  beginning, 
so  I  could  do  no  less  than  forgive  him.  That  seemed  to 
wipe  it  all  out." 

< '  When  did  this  happen  ? ' '  asked  Tay ,  abruptly.  ' '  What 
year?" 

"It  must  have  been  —  in  1903." 

"Oh  !  Cherry  hadn't  been  to  England  for  two  or  three 
years.  She  went  that  year  and  came  back  with  a  good  deal 
of  your  story  —  got  it  from  your  aunt,  of  course.  I  remem 
ber  I  thought  about  you  pretty  hard  for  a  time.  Was  on 
the  brink  of  falling  in  love  with  another  girl,  and  it  all  went 
up  in  smoke.  What  time  of  the  year  was  it  ?" 

"Late  autumn." 

"Yes  !  I  told  myself  it  was  tomfoolery.  That  you  had 
forgotten  me ;  and  I  had  pretty  well  forgotten  you.  Never 
theless,  I  couldn't  get  you  out  of  my  head.  You  believe 
in  tfiat  sort  of  thing,  I  suppose  1" 


DANIEL  TAY  427 

"Oh,  yes.    I  wonder  !" 

They  were  both  pale  and  staring  at  each  other.  "Well, 
go  on,"  said  Tay.  "What  next  ?" 

"I  made  up  my  mind  that  I  would  find  some  one  to  love ; 
and  take  the  consequences.  I  went  down  to  Calcutta,  and 
for  a  whole  winter  tried  to  fall  in  love.  There  were  many 
charming  men,  but  it  was  no  use." 

"Now  are  you  convinced?" 

There  was  a  bend  in  the  lake,  which  Julia  had  artfully 
avoided.  Tay  swung  her  suddenly  around  it,  and  in  spite 
of  her  desperate  attempt  to  free  herself,  caught  her  in  his 
arms. 

"Now,"  he  said,  "  I  propose  to  show  you  that  temperature 
has  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Keep  quiet.  You  are  on  skates, 
remember."  And  he  kissed  her. 

"You  can  kiss  me  again,"  said  Julia,  after  a  moment  or 
two. 

"I  thought  so."     And  he  kissed  her  for  several  minutes. 

"You  look  quite  different,"  murmured,  Julia  finally. 

"I  can  look  more  so.  Skates  and  worsted  collars  that 
take  your  ears  off  are  infernally  in  the  way." 

"Will  you  always  joke?" 

"My  dear  child',  if  I  didn't  joke,  I  might  really  frighten 
you." 

Julia  shivered.  "I've  been  frightened  for  days.  I  knew 
this  would  come.  If  I'd  been  really  wise,  I'd  have  run 
away." 

"It  wouldn't  have  done  you  one  bit  of  good.  Never  try 
that  game.  If  you  do,  I'll  jump  right  up  on  the  platform 
in  Albert  Hall  and  kiss  you  in  the  presence  of  ten  thou 
sand  suffragettes  —  damnable  word  ! " 

"  I  believe  you  would." 

"  I  would."    And  he  kissed  her  again. 

This  time  she  didn't  respond,  and  he  gave  her  a  little 
shake.  "Forget  it.  You're  to  think  of  nothing  but  me 
this  long  day  we  have  all  to  ourselves.  Time  enough  in 
London  for  you  to  set  up  your  ninepins  for  me  to  bowl  over. 
You've  shown  what  you  can  do.  Lady  Dark  told  me  that 


428  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

you  did  nothing  by  halves,  and  you've  just  proved  it.     To 
day  for  love.     Do  you  hear  ?  " 

Julia  smiled  radiantly.  "I  couldn't  think  of  anything 
but  you  for  more  than  a  minute  if  I  would.  That  was  one 
thing  that  terrified  me  at  night  —  when  I  had  time  to 
think  -  I  had  switched  off  with  a  vengeance  j  The  past 
seemed  blotted  out.  I  wonder!  I  wonder! 

"I  don't.     And  I  never  saw  a  mortal  woman  look 
happy      Your  faculty  of  living  in  the  moment  is  a  grand 
asset,  my  dear.     Ten  months  -      Good  lord  !     It  takes  all 
of  that  time  to  establish  a  residence  in  Nevada,  and  all 
rest  of  it.     However  -      Well,  let  us  go  for  a  walk  in  the 
woods."     He  glanced   about   with   a   quickening   breath. 
"  Blessed  spot !    We'll  come  back  to  it  one  of  these  days. 


XII 

"IT  shows  how  much  in  love  we  are  that  we  don't  mind 
this  luncheon,"  said  Tay,  who  made  a  face,  nevertheless. 
They  had  decided  to  remain  away  from  the  hotel  all  day, 
and  were  fortifying  themselves  at  the  inn  on  the  lake.  The 
meal  was  the  usual  one  of  watery  veal,  fried  potatoes,  and 
pastry.  "I  remember  eating  'kalb'  when  I  was  in  Ger 
many  before  until  I  choked.  Can  any  one  explain  why 
there  are  more  calves  in  Germany  than  anywhere  else  on 
the  face  of  the  globe  ?  You  don't  see  so  many  cows.  The 
offspring  must  arrive  in  litters  like  pigs." 

"And  the  German,  true  to  his  creed,  is  furious  if  you 
flout  his  commonest  staple."  Julia  smiled,  but,  in  truth, 
her  mind  was  deeply  perturbed,  and  she  spoke  mechanically. 
There  had  been  no  more  love-making,  for  guests  and  peas 
ants  had  met  them  at  every  turn  of  the  woods.  Her  Hindu 
master  had  once  told  her  that  profound  as  were  the  sugges 
tions  he  had  given  her,  and  systematic  as  was  the  control 
she  had  been  taught  to  acquire  over  herself,  either  might 
suffer  interruption  unless  she  lived  in  India  for  many  years 
longer.  A  violent  awakening  of  the  primal  emotions,  the 
assault  of  a  mind  and  nature,  temporarily,  at  least,  stronger 
than  her  own,  and  that  devil  that  lives  in  the  subconscious- 
ness  would  sit  on  his  hind  legs  and  chuckle. 

During  the  hours  that  had  succeeded  those  moments  of 
unquestioning  surrender  on  the  lake,  her  thirty-four  years 
with  their  highest  accomplishment  had  crept  back,  and  she 
had  ceased  forever  to  feel  eighteen.  The  immediate  future 
rose  before  her  like  a  black  wall  pricked  out  with  menacing 
fingers.  There  was  no  question  as  to  where  her  duty  lay 
for  the  moment,  as  to  what  she  must  accomplish  before  she 
could  think  of  happiness.  All  the  steel  in  her  nature  had 
reasserted  itself,  her  brain  was  cold  and  keen.  She  would 

429 


430  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

put  an  end  to  the  present  state  of  affairs  this  very  day. 
But  how  ?  How  ? 

She  continued  pleasantly. 

"Perhaps  it  would  have  been  better  to  go  back  to  the 
hotel." 

"Not  much.  The  hotel  is  associated  with  three  evenings 
of  fruitless  manceuvrings  to  get  you  alone  in  one  of  those 
corners.  Besides,  Lady  Dark  may  have  recovered.  I'll 
take  no  chances.  You  are  to  be  mine  alone  for  an  entire 
day." 

"We  could  stay  a  few  days  longer." 

"No,  on  the  whole,  I  want  to  wind  up  London  as  quickly 
as  possible.  So  must  you.  I  shall  send  you  on  a  steamer 
ahead  to  make  sure  of  you." 

Julia  laughed.  "How  like  a  man.  We  could  hardly  be 
happier  than  we  are  now.  Why  not  let  well  enough  alone, 
for  a  bit?" 

"Well,  you  see,  I  am  a  man,  and  therefore  differ  from  you 
as  to  what  constitutes  real  happiness.  I  want  to  get  the 
cursed  Reno  matter  over  as  quickly  as  possible.  Besides, 
I  am  due  at  home.  The  business  might  wait,  but  there's 
a  big  piece  of  political  work  to  pull  off,  and  I  must  do  my 
share  in  prying  my  poor  rotten  state  out  of  the  slough." 

Julia's  mind  took  a  leap.  "I  believe  you  are  really  am 
bitious,"  she  said,  with  bright  sympathetic  eyes.  "Poli 
ticians  don't  work  for  nothing.  Do  you  know  you  never 
have  told  me  a  word  of  your  ultimate  intentions?" 

"I've  been  too  busy  talking  about  you.  I  was  only  too 
glad  to  side-track  my  own  affairs  for  a  time.  We  were  all 
so  strung  up  during  the  graft  prosecution  that  we  jumped 
at  anything  that  would  give  us  a  chance  to  forget  it,  and 
recuperate  our  energies." 

"Well,  you  have  had  a  change!  Do  tell  me  how  you 
have  planned  out  your  life.  Do  you  look  forward  to  being 
President  of  the  United  States?"" 

"Not  as  much  as  when  I  was  fifteen." 

"Oh,  you  will  always  joke  !  Can't  you  fancy  what  your 
future  is 'to  me?  You  are  capable  of  great  things,  and  I 


I)  \\II.L    TAY  431 

don't  for  a  moment  believe  that  you  care  for  nothing  but 
money  making,  varied  by  an  occasional  rush  at  reform. 
Do  be  serious." 

"My  dear,  I  never  felt  more  serious  than  I  do  at  this 
moment.  God  knows  I'm  only  too  grateful  for  your  inter 
est.  It  struck  me  as  ominous  that  you  never  asked  me." 

"I  didn't  dare,"  murmured  Julia.  "A  man's  career  is 
a  so  much  more  brilliant  thing  than  a  woman's  ever  can 
be,  for  he  has  two  distinct  sides.  We  women  are  bound  by 
our  physical  limitations  to  one  side.  We  must  make  new 
traditions  —  and  new  bodies  to  transmit  - 

"  Hold  on  !    Let  us  avoid  that  subject  as  long  as  possible." 

"But  tell  me." 

"Well,  here  is  the  way  I  am  fixed :  I  am  for  reform,  my 
father  is  not.  I  am  a  full  partner  in  the  firm,  but  I  can't 
use  the  firm's  money  for  an  object  to  which  my  father  is 
bitterly  opposed.  But  I  have  been  making  money  on  the 
outside,  investing  and  reinvesting,  and,  in  two  years  at 
most,  I  shall  have  an  independent  fortune,  irrespective  of 
my  father's  large  estate.  Then  I  intend  to  go  in  for  politics, 
doing  all  I  can  meanwhile  to  educate  the  people  in  the  pre 
cepts  of  the  true  democracy  and  to  keep  the  Reform  party 
on  top.  I  intend  to  hold  conspicuous  office  in  California, 
then  go  to  Congress.  You  can  call  this  ambition,  if  you 
like;  no  doubt  ambition  is  mixed  up  with  all  deep  sense 
of  personal  usefulness.  It  takes  a  good-sized  ego  to  permit 
you  to  fancy  yourself  able  to  reform  long-existing  conditions ; 
and  egoism  and  ambition  are  good  working  partners.  I 
shall  work  for  my  own  state  first,  and  then  for  the  country 
at  large.  That  is  the  way  for  Americans  to  begin,  or,  at  all 
events,  the  way  we  do  begin,  our  country  being  what  it  is. 
State  pride  is  almost  as  strong  as  national.  Moreover, 
a  man  must  prove  himself  in  his  own  state  before  he  can 
get  a  chance  to  command  the  attention  of  the  nation.  If 
a  man  happens  to  belong  to  a  notoriously  corrupt  state  like 
California,  and  manages  to  shine  by  contrast,  his  oppor 
tunities  are  so  much  the  greater !  But  the  nation  is  the 
thing.  Every  Union  man  during  the  Civil  War  fought  for 


432  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

his  flag,  not  for  his  section.  But  our  country  is  now  a  re 
public  only  in  name.  We  are  piling  up  problems  our 
founders  could  not  anticipate,  and  if  they  go  on  unchecked, 
they  will  land  us  either  in  art  autocracy,  or  in  the  worst 
form  of  tyranny  known  to  history,  —  mob  rule.  It  is  the 
business  of  a  few  of  us  to  avert  a  French  Revolution.  Just 
at  present  we  are  between  two  camps,  Monopoly  and  Labor- 
Unionism,  and  have  almost  forgotten  that  we  are  citizens 
of  a  free  country.  Our  skins  have  been  safe  so  far,  owing 
to  the  lack  of  brains  and  initiative  in  the  masses ;  also,  be 
cause  they  are  far  from  starvation.  But  let  that  condition 
arise  —  before  the  Money  Power  has  been  made  to  open  its 
eyes,  or  has  been  controlled  by  legislation  —  then  horrors 
beside  which  the  French  Revolution  will  be  mere  pictur 
esque  material  for  novelists.  A  few  thinking  men  with 
money  enough  to  give  them  weight  with  the  solid  moneyed 
class  at  the  top  —  where  the  reform  must  begin  —  as  well 
as  to  place  them  above  suspicion,  and  who  have  cultivated 
common-sense  and  patriotism  instead  of  greed,  must  do  the 
business.  Let's  get  out  of  this." 


XIII 

WHEN  they  were  walking  over  the  crisp  snow  in  the 
woods  —  now  deserted,  for  hotel  guests  and  peasants  alike 
were  at  the  long  midday  meal  —  he  resumed  the  subject. 
Her  vivid  sympathy  and  interest  had  brought  back  the 
bitter  struggle  of  the  past  two  years  with  a  rush. 

"How  I  wish  you  had  been  with  me  when  we  made  our 
graft  fight,"  he  said,  looking  at  her  with  fond  eager  eyes. 
"What  a  mate  you  would  have  been.  When  the  whole  town 
is  howling  at  a  man  because  he  is  trying  to  do  the  right  thing, 
he  needs  just  such  a  woman  as  you  to  keep  the  courage  in 
him.  The  concerted  opinion  of  the  majority  has  an  in 
sidious  power  !  Sometimes  we  wondered  if  we  could  be 
right,  if  we  were  not  all  dreamers,  unpractical,  doing  our 
city  more  harm  than  good.  The  whole  country  was  aghast 
at  our  exposures,  business  was  almost  dead,  capital  refused 
to  come  our  way ;  the  poor  old  city  that  had  been  wrecked 
by  the  most  fearful  natural  calamity  of  modern  times  - 
$500,000,000  went  up  in  smoke  —  seemed  to  cry  out 
against  us  for  holding  her  down,  to  beg  for  a  chance  to 
limp  out  of  her  bog.  But  we  looked  ahead,  convinced  that 
there  could  be  no  permanent  prosperity  for  San  Francisco 
until  the  sore  was  scraped  to  the  bone  and  sterilized;  in 
other  words,  until  the  political  scoundrels  and  the  get-ricji- 
quick  clement,  that  obtained  their  crushing  franchises  by 
corrupting  a  packed  Board  of  Supervisors,  and  bought 
everybody,  from  the  boss  and  the  mayor  down  to  the  man 
in  the  street  with  a  vote  to  sell,  were  either  gaoled  or  so  dis 
credited  that  they  would  be  forced  into  private  life  or  out 
of  the  state.  We  unseated  the  boss  and  the  mayor,  the 
supervisors  having  come  through,  and  we  were  able  to  indict 
several  of  what  we  call  the  higher-ups  —  the  men  that  had 
done  the  buying.  I  never  had  much  hope  of  convicting 

**  433 


434  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

these  men,  for  in  California,  in  its  present  state  of  moral 
development,  it  is  next  to  impossible  to  convict  a  rich  man. 
If  you  get  an  honest  judge,  there  are  always  men  in  the  jury 
that  have  got  in  for  no  purpose  but  to  be  bribed.  But  we 
won  out  in  another  way.  The  long  trial  aired  the  abom 
inable  practices  of  these  corporations,  and,  together  with 
the  many  sensational  episodes  —  the  shooting  of  the  prose 
cuting  attorney  in  court,  and  the  suicide  of  the  would-be 
murderer  in  prison  before  he  could  be  put  en  the  stand, 
the  kidnapping  of  the  only  editor  that  fought  with  us,  - 
woke  up  the  state;  it  talked  of  little  else,  and  talking, 
thought,  and  was  ashamed.  The  city  machine  got  ahead  of 
us,  for  the  mayor  we  had  managed  to  seat  was  too  virtuous 
to  build  up  a  machine  of  his  own ;  but  we  hope  for  great 
things  in  the  state  itself  when  our  Reform  candidate  runs 
for  the  office  of  governor  this  year.  Perhaps  it  was  un 
reasonable  to  hope  for  more  at  the  beginning,  and  it  was  a 
tough  fight  to  get  that  much. 

"Oh,  God  !"  he  cried  bitterly,  "the  rottenness  of  young 
communities  with  potentialities  of  wealth.  Human  nature 
in  the  raw,  when  it  is  still  in  the  ingenuous  stage  of  greed, 
is  a  damnable  thing.  It  has  never  shown  any  originality 
since  the  world  began.  Socialism  may  clip  its  wings,  if  it 
ever  gets  control,  but  —  here  is  the  cursed  anomaly :  you 
can't  hope  for  Socialism  until  a  miracle  eliminates  greed 
from  the  nature  of  man ;  for  it  is  men  that  must  grant  So 
cialism,  and  Socialism  means ^ the  balking  of  greed.  Even 
if  some  unforeseen  set  of  circumstances  forced  it  upon  us,  I 
doubt  if  it  would  last.  You  can  no  more  eliminate  greed  from 
men  than  you  could  eliminate  sex  by  forcing  men  and  women 
to  dress  alike,  shave  their  heads,  and  say  their  prayers  three 
times  a  day.  But  the  world  is  better  in  some  respects  than 
it  was  a  century  ago,  and  this  is  primarily  due  to  the  untir 
ing  efforts  of  the  minority.  But,  again,  the  work  must  be 
done  by  a  few  men  —  the  few  that  are  awake  and  can  see 
farther  than  their  noses.  Well,  my  dear,  I  hope  and  pray 
that  I  am  one  of  those  men.  There  you  have  my  program, 
so  far  as  a  mere  finite  mind  can  project  it." 


DAMKL    TAY  435 

"Now  I  know  why  I  have  been  permitted  to  love  you," 
said  Julia,  softly,  and  looking  at  him  with  glowing  eyes. 
"Hadji  Sadra  told  me  that  he  should  watch  over  me,  and 
that  if  I  dared  love  a  man  who  would  pull  me  down,  instead 
of  being  far  greater  than  I  could  ever  hope  to  be,  he  would 
blast  me,  transform  me  into  a  mere  commonplace  female 
but  haunted  by  the  memory  of  what  I  had  been  — " 

"How  much  of  all  that  do  you  believe?" 

"  Ah  !  I  saw  marvellous  exhibitions  of  power.  They  are 
common  enough  in  the  East,  but  one  would  hardly  dare 
relate  them  in  this  part  of  the  world.  If  I  longed  with  all 
the  concentrated  powers  of  my  mind  for  Hadji  Sadra,  he 
would  come  to  me  in  a  flash  —  with  that  secondary  material 
body  they  call  the  astral,  and  we  call  the  ghost.  If  I  were 
terribly  perplexed,  I  should  send  for  him  - 

"I  want  no  go-betweens,  particularly  Mohammedan 
ghosts." 

But  Julia  had  no  intention  of  letting  him  down. 

"I  wonder  I  could  remember  him,  or  any  one  else  !     It 
was  only  because  I  suddenly  realized  what  all  this  means 
-  that  I  may  have  another  and  far  greater  part  to  play  - 

"You  see  that  at  last !  Perhaps  I  should  have  appealed 
to  you  before.  But  —  it  is  only  to-day  that  I  have  felt 
really  close  to  you  —  really  loved  you,  perhaps.  I  fancy  I 
was  merely  infatuated  before."  He  took  her  irt  his  arms, 
and  she  looked  up  at  him  with  the  deepest  sympathy  a 
woman  can  express,  particularly  when  gifted  with  eyes  that 
are  the  dazzling  headlights  of  a  finished  and  powerful  ma 
chine  behind.  "Oh,  if  you  could  only  know,"  he  continued 
in  tones  of  intense  feeling,  "what  it  will  mean  to  me  to  have 
you,  not  only  to  love,  but  to  work  with  !  I  really  want  with 
all  my  soul  to  be  of  use  to  my  country,  to  be  one  of  the  few 
that  are  willing  to  work  for  her  unselfishly,  to  leave  a  de 
cent  name  behind  me.  It  is  thankless  work,  fighting  the 
majority,  battling  for  an  ideal  nobody  wants,  to  be  the  butt 
of  the  press,  accused  of  sordid  motives,  balked  at  ever)' 
turn.  The  only  sort  of  patriotism  the  average  American 
understands  is  sounding  promises  by  ambitious  politicians 


436  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

and  huge  donations  from  repentant  millionnaires.  To  raise 
the  morale  of  a  people,  and  in  the  process  prevent  them  from 
growing  too  rich,  may  mean  the  respect  of  posterity,  but  it 
also  means  the  hatred  of  your  contemporaries.  The  Big 
Voice  !  It  confuses  the  mind  and  the  standards.  The  con 
stant  failures,  the  recurring  sense  of  hopelessness,  of  futility, 
the  inevitable  contempt  for  the  masses  you  are  striving  to 
emancipate  from  themselves,  —  many  a  man  that  has 
started  out  with  the  loftiest  and  most  selfless  ideals  loses 
courage,  shrugs  his  shoulders,  and  falls  back.  I  am  no 
better  and  stronger  than  many  of  them.  I  have  dreamed 
one  minute,  the  next  wondered  how  far  I  would  go,  how 
long  my  enthusiasm  would  last.  Material  success  is  easy 
enough,  and  always  rewarded  by  approbation  and  respect ! 
What  is  the  use?  I  am  young  still,  but  I  asked  myself  that 
question  more  than  once,  for  even  my  family  were  all  against 
me.  My  father  was  furious.  He  is  honest,  but  his  business 
has  been  his  god.  I  left  home  and  went  to  a  hotel  —  to 
avoid  the  everlasting  discussions  at  table.  My  old  friends 
cut  me  on  the  street.  I  was  regarded  as  an  enemy  of  society, 
and  society  cast  me  out.  The  rest  of  our  little-group  shared 
the  same  fate.  We  were  obliged  to  keep  one  another's 
courage  up.  That  we  carried  our  lives  in  our  hands  and 
were  liable  to  assassination  at  any  moment  was  the  least 
of  our  trials.  The  Big  Voice  !  We  felt  as  if  we  were  at 
the  foot  of  an  avalanche,  or  some  other  inexorable  enemy 
in  Nature  herself,  trying  to  push  it  back  with  our  hands. 
Inevitably  there  were  black  moments  when  we  felt  we  were 
fools,  especially  when  we  faced  certain  defeat.  And  it's  all 
to  do  again,  not  once,  but  many  times.  Do  you  wonder 
that  the  light  side  of  my  nature  has  given  me  many  cynical 
moments,  or  that  I  have  seethed  with  disgust,  or  wondered 
if  I  would  last  ?  But  with  you  —  ah  !  If  I  had  ever 
dreamed  you  lived,  I  believe  I  never  should  have  despaired 
for  a  moment.  But  my  only  memory  of  you  was  of  a 
charming  and  lovely  child.  And  it  is  only  to-day,  here, 
that  I  have  realized  what  it  means  for  any  of  us  to  stand 
alone.  With  your  faith  and  your  brain,  with  you  always 


DANIEL   TAY  437 

beside   me,    sympathizing,    helping  —  I    never   shall    lose 
courage  for  a  moment.     I  could  accomplish  anything  — 
everything  - 

This  sudden  vehement  disclosure  of  the  serious  depths 
of  his  nature  under  its  surface  gayety,  with  more  than  one 
glimpse  of  heights  and  powers  she  had  barely  divined,  had 
thrilled  Julia  even  more  than  his  passionate  love-making. 
All  her  own  greatness  responded,  and  for  a  moment  or  two 
she  had  been  swept  irresistibly  on  that  tide  of  self- revealing 
words.  She  had  a  vision  of  the  complete  passion,  the  per 
fect  union.  But  her  brain  remained  cool.  She  never  lost 
sight  of  her  purpose. 

She  sprang  from  him  suddenly  and  flung  out  her  arms. 
Her  eyes  looked  black.  Her  skin  shone  with  a  peculiar 
radiance  like  white  fire.  So  she  had  looked  more  than  once 
on  the  platform  during  her  last  moments  of  irresistible 
appeal ;  when  her  bewildered  audiences  had  felt  as  if  dis 
solving  in  a  crucible  from  which  there  was  no  escape. 
"Oh,"  she  cried  in  low  vibrating  tones  of  intense  passion, 
"now  I  know  you  —  the  real  You!  I'll  never  fail  you. 
You  are  wonderful,  and  I  worship  you  !  I  believe  we  can 
be  happier  than  any  two  mortals  have  ever  been.  But, 
Dan,  I  must  go  to  you  free,  with  a  conscience  as  clean  as 
your  own.  You  must  see  that.  You  are  too  great  not  to 
see  it.  I  must  be  tormented  with  no  regrets,  no  remorse. 
If  I  should  leave  at  this  moment  —  'rat'  like  any  scoun 
drelly  selfish  politician  —  desert  these  women  publicly 
while  all  the  world  is  watching  them,  make  them  ridiculous 
-oh,  I  don't  mean  that  I  am  indispensable;  there  are 
too  many  great  women  among  them  for  that  -  But  don't 
you  see  that  if  I  threw  them  over  to  follow  an  American 
to  the  other  side  of  the  world,  now,  while  their  fate  hangs 
in  the  balance  —  why,  it  would  amount  to  nothing  less  than 
a  cynical  declaration  that  we  are  all  alike  when  it  comes  to 
a  man  —  that  we  fight  for  a  great  impersonal  cause  only 
so  long  as  no  man  comes  along  to  play  the  old  tune  on  our 
passions  —  why  -  Good  God  !  —  they  would  be  the  butt 
of  every  malicious  wit  in  the  kingdom.  Their  cause  would 


438  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER    TIMES 

be  set  back  a  generation.  And  I  ?  I  should  be  execrated 
by  women  the  world  over.  I,  who  am  now  a  sort  of  god 
dess.  My  immense  following  is  due  as  much  to  the  youth 
and  beauty  which  I  have  appeared  to  immolate  so  indiffer 
ently,  as  to  all  my  talents  put  together.  What  use  should 
I  be  to  you  if  I  scuttled  the  ship  and  deserted  it  ?  What 
place  could  I  take  among  the  women  of  your  country  ?  Do 
you  think  they  would  listen  to  me,  that  I  could  teach  them, 
help  them  ?  They  would  laugh  in  my  face  ! " 

She  caught  him  by  the  shoulders,  her  eyes  piercing  into 
his,  which  stared  at  her  full  of  sombre  perplexity.  She  went 
on  in  a  rapid  monotonous  voice,  which  fell  on  his  brain  like 
a  rain  of  fire  :  "Why  didn't  you  come  for  me,  as  you  prom 
ised  ?  I  should  have  gone.  Four  years  ago  !  I  was  free. 
Something  was  always  knocking  at  my  mind.  I  knew  that 
I  had  useful  energies  of  some  sort.  They  were  always  grop 
ing  to  find  vent.  If  you  had  come,  if  you  had  told  me  then 
what  you  have  told  me  to-day,  I  should  not  have  hesitated 
a  moment.  I  should  have  known  that  my  work  was  to  be 
done  with  you.  But  you  forgot  your  promise.  The  bond 
was  not  strong  enough.  Why  did  you  wait  until  I  had  be 
come  a  public  figure,  written  about  daily  —  until  I  had  hope 
lessly  compromised  myself?  Oh,  can't  you  see  that  you 
have  made  me  the  most  tragic  figure  among  women?  I 
love  you  so  that  I  long  with  all  those  other  and  far  greater 
forces  within  me  —  that  you  have  brought  to  life  —  to  go, 
to  be  happy,  to  give  you  all  you  want  and  deserve,  to  be 
come  truly  great  —  with  you  !  Oh,  I  am  the  most  unhappy 
woman  on  earth  —  and  the  happiest !" 

Tay  had  tried  to  interrupt  her  several  times.  But  he 
was  dazed.  She  looked  like  a  sibyl.  He  felt  disjointedly 
that  he  had  less  desire  to  claim  her  as  a  woman  than  to  as 
cend  with  her  to  the  plane  whither  she  seemed  to  have  borne 
herself.  He  had  been  shaken  out  of  his  own  reserve  and 
bared  his  soul  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  ;  his  defences  were 
down,  she  seemed  to  have  entered  his  mind  and  taken 
possession.  Human  passion  would  appear  to  have  fallen 
to  ashes.  His  senses  felt  numb,  he  was  vaguely  conscious 


DAN  1 1  I.    TAY  439 

of  a  material  dissolution  that  left  his  soul  free  to  mingle  with 
hers. 

She  gave  him  no  chance  to  speak.  Her  words  flowed  on 
with  the  same  fiery  monotony. 

"You  have  taught  me  what  duty  means.  I  believe  I 
never  was  really  capable  of  the  sacrifice  of  self  before.  I 
worked  to  fill  my  time,  to  forget  my  depths.  Then  because 
the  greatness  of  that  work  really  put  my  womanhood  to 
sleep  !  But  you  !  I  have  not  a  personal  ambition  left, 
not  a  want  apart  from  you,  but  this  terrible  duty.  I  want 
to  live  in  you,  for  you.  You!  You!  You!"  Tay  had  a 
confused  idea  that  he  was  turning  into  a  demi-god.  "But 
I  must  go  to  you  free  —  that  I  may  never  look  back  —  that 
I  may  know  and  give  complete  happiness.  I  must  be  all 
woman,  not  a  mere  brain,  humiliated,  ashamed,  tortured  by 
regrets.  And  you  must  go  at  once,  at  once,  at  once.  If  you 
stay,  if  you  prove  too  strong  for  me,  if  you  force  me  to  go 
with  you  —  and  I  love  you  so  I  might  go  —  then  we  never 
shall  know  the  meaning  of  happiness  for  a  moment.  I  will 
follow  you  before  long.  If  we  don't  win  the  battle  early 
this  year,  I  will  train  some  one  to  take  my  place.  I  shall 
speak,  appear  in  public  less  and  less,  drop  out  by  degrees. 
I  shall  soon  be  forgotten  —  long  before  I  can  marry  you. 
But  to  leap  from  the  front  rank  of  these  women  straight 
into  a  divorce  court  in  a  city  whose  name  is  a  synonym 
for  vulgarity,  that  is  never  mentioned  without  a  laugh  or  a 
sneer  -  Oh,  you  see  !  You  see  !  What  an  anticlimax 
to  all  these  years  on  a  pedestal!  What  a  wife  for  you,  a 
public  man  !  Oh,  God  !  I  should  be  the  ruin  of  your  own 
career  - 

"Julia  !"  exclaimed  Tay,  trying  to  get  his  breath. 

She  fell  back  limply  against  a  tree,  as  if  exhausted  with 
her  own  passion,  but  neither  voice  nor  eyes  lost  their 
power. 

" Oh.  go !  Go  !  Go  !  If  you  don't.  I  shall  be  in  the  dust. 
I  shall  be  incapable  of  love  in  my  abasement.  I  know  my 
self.  To  love,  to  be  happy,  I  must  be  free.  I  must  have 
my  self-respect.  I  can't  love,  tortured  by  shame  and  re- 


440  JULIA   FRANCE   AND  HER   TIMES 

morse.     I  want  love  and  you  more  than  anything  on  earth, 
but  I  want  them  utterly.     Oh,  go  ! " 

For  a  moment  or  two  Tay  had  been  conscious  of  an  angry 
struggle  in  the  depths  of  his  mind.  He  suddenly  became 
master  of  himself.  He  shot  a  glance  at  Julia  as  piercing 
as  her  own,  and  she  gasped  and  flung  herself  face  downward 
on  the  snow  and  began  to  sob.  He  made  no  attempt  to 
pick  her  up  for  the  moment. 

"You  have  strange  powers,  Julia,"  he  said.  "If  I  were 
weaker  than  I  am,  —  and  God  knows  I  am  weak  enough,  - 
I  should  be  slinking  through  the  woods  with  my  tail  be 
tween  my  legs,  hypnotized  out  of  my  manhood,  and  ready 
to  lick  your  hand  for  the  rest  of  my  life."  Julia  stopped 
sobbing  and  listened  intently.  Tay  walked  up  and  down 
before  he  spoke  again.  "But  mind  you,  I  don't  question 
your  sincerity,  your  love,  whatever  the  devilish  arts  you 
tried  to  practise  on  me.  Every  leader  of  a  great  revolution 
is  a  fanatic  and  a  Jesuit.  And,  methods  aside,  every  word 
you  spoke  was  sound  common-sense.  I  don't  care  to  as 
sume  the  responsibility  of  injuring  those  women,  and  I  be 
lieve  you  would  be  incapable  of  happiness  if  you  handed 
their  enemies  another  weapon  —  a  pretty  deadly  one  it 
would  be !" 

He  picked  her  up  and  dusted  her  off.  "I  am  going,"  he 
went  on  grimly,  "and  I  shall  wait  exactly  six  months.  Or 
rather  -  He  caught  her  hands  in  his  powerful  grip,  his 
eyes  blazing  into  hers.  "I  shall  never  see  you  again,  not 
even  with  your  royal  consent,  unless  you  swear  to  me  here 
that  you'll  not  try  that  on  again.  That  you'll  be  woman 
to  my  man  from  this  time  forth  —  that  and  nothing  rr  ore. 
I'll  be  damned  if  I'll  live  with  a  woman  who  doesn't  play 
a  square  game.  Swear  it." 

"Oh,  I  do,  I  do  !    Oh,  Dan !"    The  tears  were  running 
down  her  face,  honest  tears,  for  she  was  frightened,  while 
rejoicing.     "Do  believe  that  I  was  only  doing  my  best - 
I  knew  that  you  wouldn't  listen  —  I  had  only  one  object  - 

"Oh,  as  I  told  you,  I  have  never  questioned  your  queer 
complicated  honesty.  Only,  being  a  perfectly  normal  per- 


DANIEL  TAY  441 

son  myself,  I  prefer  to  postpone  occult  trickery  until  I 
reach  the  next  world.  No  doubt  it  will  be  all  in  the  day's 
work  there.  But  I've  got  my  job  cut  out  in  this,  matching 
my  earthly  wits  against  the  next  man's.  Now,  you've  given 
me  your  word  !  If  you  ever  go  back  on  it  - 

"Oh,  never!"  Julia  was  now  really  limp,  and  looked 
wholly  feminine.  Tay  took  her  in  his  arms  once  more  and 
dried  her  tears.  "It's  my  fate  to  love  you,"  he  said,  with 
a  sigh.  "And  that's  about  the  size  of  it.  I'm  sorry  you 
ever  went  to  your  East,  but  live  in  the  hope  I  can  make  you 
forget  it." 

"And  do  you  love  me  as  much  as  ever?"  asked  Julia, 
unintellectually. 

Tay  laughed  outright,  the  ancient  formula  almost 
routing  the  memory  of  those  moments  when  the  same 
woman  that  uttered  them  automatically  had  launched 
her  ruthless  will  into  his  relaxing  brain.  "Oh,  yes," 
he  said,  "I  love  you,  all  right,  and  for  good  and  all. 
Now,  we'll  be  practical.  I  shall  leave  England  the  day  I 
wind  up  my  affairs  in  London.  That  should  be  in  less  than 
a  week.  I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  stay  here  until  I  sail. 
I  am  resigned  to  going  without  you,  am  willing  to  admit 
that  a  separation  of  a  few  months  is  inevitable  —  but,  all 
the  same,  the  less  temptation,  the  better.  Besides,  I  shall 
need  all  my  wits  in  London  -  If  you  were  there  - 

"Oh,  I'd  rather  stay,  far,  far  rather!  I  don't  think  I 
could  stand  it,  either.  Here,  at  least,  I  can  keep  out  of 
doors,  exercise  until  I  am  past  thought  - 

"Well,  don't  change  your  mind.  I  insist  that  you  stay 
here.  If  you  return  to  London  while  I  am  there  —  well, 
I'll  not  say  just  what  I  won't  do.  Enough  that  I  should 
not  return  to  America  alone.  Come,  let's  get  back  to  the 
hotel." 


XIV 

JULIA  went  at  once  to  Ishbel's  room.  She  found  that 
conspirator  sitting  on  the  little  balcony  enjoying  the  view  of 
ice  peak  and  forest.  Ishbel  sprang  to  her  feet  when  she 
saw  Julia's  face. 

"Oh-       Ah-       So- 

" Quite  so,"  said  Julia,  dryly.  "But  never  mind.  I 
have  won  out  for  a  bit.  He  has  promised  to  go  to  Cali 
fornia  at  once  and  wait  while  I  eliminate  myself  by  degrees. 
I  have  promised  to  follow  in  six  months.  Of  course  I  shall 
if  I  can.  If  I  can't  —  well,  I  must  make  him  listen  to 
reason  again.  But  I  hope  — 

"Of  course,  you  can't  bolt,"  said  Ishbel,  who  was  burning 
with  sympathy  for  both.  "But  surely  you  can  manage 
to  let  yourself  out  in  six  months.  Your  vice-president  is 
an  efficient  woman ;  and  then  we  are  sure  to  win  this  ses 
sion  - 

"I  don't  know  !  If  we  did,  of  course  I'd  make  some  ex 
cuse  and  go  at  once.  But  —  otherwise  —  I  can't  leave 
them  for  a  divorce  court  until  I  have  taught  them  to  forget 
me  —  disassociated  myself  from  them  - 

She  dropped  on  the  edge  of  the  bed,  face  and  body  ex 
pressing  utter  discouragement.  Ishbel  half  opened  her 
lips,  then  went  out  upon  the  balcony  lest  she  break  her 
word  and  tell  Julia  that  France  was  dying.  But  a  moment's 
reflection  convinced  her  that  this  information  would  only 
complicate  matters  at  present.  She  thought  hard  for  a  few 
minutes,  then  ran  back  into  the  room. 

"Julia  !"  she  exclaimed,  "I  have  an  idea  !  Why  not  go 
to  Nevis?  Your  mother  is  very  old.  You  haven't  seen 
her  for  many  years.  You  can  give  out  that  she  is  ill  —  or 
I  will  if  you  won't.  My  conscience  wouldn't  hurt  me  a  bit, 
for  old  people  are  always  ill.  No  doubt  you'll  find  her  with 

442 


DANIEL  TAY  443 

rheumatism,  lumbago,  dropsy,  Bright's  disease,  diabetes, 
tumors,  or  a  few  other  ills  incident  to  old  age.  It  would 
make  just  the  break  you  need ;  and  it's  just  the  time  to  go, 
for  your  officers  can  attend  to  everything.  Also  —  you 
could  stay  on  and  on." 

Julia  looked  up  with  some  return  of  animation  in  her 
heavy  eyes. 

"It's  not  a  bad  idea,  if  I  could  go." 

"Of  course  you  could,  and  the  minute  I  get  to  London 
I'll  set  the  whole  shop  to  work  on  your  tropic  wardrobe. 
You  can  get  many  things  ready-made,  anyhow  —  people 
are  always  going  out  to  India  on  a  moment's  notice." 

"I'll  think  it  over  while  I'm  here.  I'm  to  stay  until  he 
sails." 

"Ah!  —  I  hate  to  leave  you  alone.  Shall  I  stay  with 
you?" 

"I  think  I'd  rather  be  alone." 

"Yes,  I  understand."  She  sat  down  on  the  bed  and  put 
her  arm  about  Julia's  relaxed  form.  "I  want  you  to  prom 
ise  me  that  you  will  marry  Mr.  Tay,  whatever  happens. 
You've  a  right  to  happiness,  if  ever  a  woman  had,  and  this 
is  your  only  chance,  my  dear.  There's  only  one  real  man 
in  every  woman's  life,  and  happiness  is  the  inalienable  right 
of  all  of  us.  Even  Bridgit  was  forced  to  admit  that." 

"Oh,  I  intend  to  marry  him.  But  when?  That  is  the 
question  !" 

"  As  soon  as  possible.  You  have  given  four  uninterrupted 
years  to  this  work,  and  you  have  done  great  things  for  it. 
That  is  enough  - 

"We  have  all  gone  in  —  that  inner  band  —  to  devote  a 
lifetime  to  it  if  necessary." 

"  Don't  you  suspect  that  those  women  have  an  extra  some 
thing  in  their  make-up  that  the  rest  of  us  lack?" 

"I  have  accomplished  as  much  as  any  of  them  - 

"Quite  so.  And  enough.  Don't  you  feel  that  the  spring 
has  gone  out  of  yott?" 

"Just  now,  yes." 

'  You'll  never  work  with  the  same  spirit  again,  for  you 


444  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

never  can  be  impersonal  again.  You  would  feel  a  hypocrite, 
for  you  would  always  be  resenting  the  loss  of  what  you  really 
want  most  in  life.  You've  a  duty  to  yourself,  to  say  nothing 
of  Mr.  Tay;  and  you're  not  going  to  a  frivolous  useless 
life  —  not  with  him  !  No  one  is  indispensable  to  any  real 
cause,  and  in  ours  there  are  too  many  to  carry  on  the  wrork 
without  the  supreme  sacrifice  on  your  part.  Promise  me, 
at  least,  that  you  will  go  at  once  to  Nevis.  It  would  be  the 
beginning  of  the  solution." 

"I'd  like  to  go." 

"You  really  must  want  to  see  your  mother,  and  your 
old  home,"  continued  Ishbel,  insinuatingly.  "One's  mother 
and  one's  birthplace  are  the  great  refuges  in  time  of  trouble. 
You  were  very  fond  of  your  mother  when  you  were  a  child." 

"I'm  fond  of  her  now,  but  she  seems  to  have  lost  all 
affection  for  me." 

"Never  believe  it.  She  is  a  strange  proud  old  woman, 
but  she  has  always  loved  you.  Go  back  to  her.  There  is 
your  refuge." 

"You  are  playing  on  my  deepest  feelings,  but  you  are 
right.  Nevis !  When  you  are  crushed,  your  own  land 
calls  you.  And,  as  you  say,  I  haven't  much  work  in  me 
at  present." 

"Then  you'll  go?" 

"When  you  get  to  London,  telegraph  me  how  matters 
stand.  If  it  looks  as  if  the  truce  would  be  a  long  one  —  yes, 
I'll  go.  I  believe  I  want  to  go  more  than  anything  else  in  the 
world  —  except  one  !  Perhaps  I'll  get  a  grip  on  myself 
down  there.  Perhaps  I'll  find  that  —  well,  that  I  love  this 
great  cause  best,  after  all." 

"Not  a  bit  of  it!"  cried  Ishbel,  in  alarm.  "Don't 
try  to  persuade  yourself  of  anything  so  unnatural  and 
foolish.  Do  you  realize  how  few  women  have  complete 
happiness  offered  them  ?  I  could  shake  you." 

Then  she  reflected  that  Nevis  was  a  tropical  island ; 
and  another  scheme  was  forming  in  her  agile  brain.  "Well, 
never  mind  all  that.  You  are  worn  out  now.  It  is  not  a 
matter  to  discuss,  anyhow.  Stay  out  of  doors  here,  and 


DANIEL   TAY  445 

I  will  prepare  your  wardrobe.  Then  you  can  start  as 
soon  as  you  return  to  England.  I  will  tell  Collins  to  pack 
your  other  things.  Eric  will  secure  your  accommodations 
on  the  first  steamer  that  sails  after  Mr.  Tay's.  Now  lie 
down.  Or  shall  you  come  down  to  our  last  dinner  ?  " 

"No,  I  am  not  going  to  see  him  again.  I'll  be  glad  when 
he  has  gone,  and  that,  at  least,  is  over.  But  I'll  go  to  Nevis, 
if  all  is  quiet  in  England." 


XV 

THEY  left  on  the  evening  train  in  order  to  catch  the 
morning  train  out  of  Munich.  Julia,  who  had  been  sitting 
inertly  in  her  room,  too  listless  to  go  to  bed,  heard  the 
carriage  rattle  down  the  street,  and  sprang  to  her  feet  with  a 
wild  sense  of  protest  and  despair.  It  required  all  her  self- 
control  to  refrain  from  ringing  for  a  droschke  and  following 
before  it  was  too  late.  Then,  angry  at  this  complete 
surrender  to  her  femininity,  she  undressed  and  went  to  bed. 

Here,  she  discovered  to  her  dismay  that  California  was 
not  farther  off  than  sleep.  Perversely,  she  would  not 
relax,  nor  go  through  any  of  the  other  forms  with  which  she 
had  always  been  able  to  summon  sleep  when  excited.  She 
doubted  if  they  would  conquer  these  new  impressions,  but 
refused  to  give  them  a  trial.  She  lay  awake  until  nearly 
dawn,  the  events  of  the  day  marching  through  her-  brain 
with  maddening  reiteration.  She  dreaded  sleep,  also,  for 
now  at  least  her  brain  was  stimulated,  and  she  guessed  that 
it  would  be  correspondingly  depressed  upon  awakening. 
So  it  was.  The  weather,  also,  had  changed.  It  was  raining. 

When  Julia  heard  the  heavy  raindrops  splashing  on  her 
balcony,  she  sat  up  with  a  gasp  of  horror,  then  laughed 
grimly.  But  this  conspiracy  of  Nature  gave  her  a  certain 
obstinate  fortitude,  and  she  rose  at  once,  took  a  cold  bath, 
and  dressed.  But  when  she  opened  her  door  to  go  down  to 
the  dining-room,  her  courage  failed  her,  and  she  rang  and 
ordered  breakfast  to  be  brought  upstairs. 

"What  am  I  to  do ? "  she  thought  in  terror.  " What  am  I 
to  do?" 

It  rained  all  day.  Julia  had  brought  no  storm  clothes. 
She  prowled  about  the  halls,  getting  what  exercise  she  could, 
but  dared  not  go  downstairs.  She  sent  for  books  from  the 
library,  but  they  might  have  been  written  in  Greek.  She 

446 


DANIEL  TAY  447 

summoned  resolution  to  go  to  the  dining-room  at  seven 
o'clock,  but  turned  at  the  door,  and  ran  back  to  her  room. 
She  saw  Tay  at  every  turn,  and  to  sit  alone  at  the  table 
with  his  empty  chair  opposite,  was  beyond  her  endurance. 
Nor  could  she  eat  the  food  brought  to  her  room.  She  went 
to  bed  again,  and  slept  fitfully. 

She  awoke  in  the  small  hours  to  hear  it  still  raining,  and 
this  time  she  fell  into  a  fury  over  her  demoralization. 

"And  this  is  love  !"  she  thought.  ''Terrors  !  Ignominy  ! 
A  will  turned  to  water.  I'd  not  be  more  helpless  if  I  were 
in  a  hospital  with  typhoid  fever." 

Her  mind  suddenly  flew  to  the  conversation  with  her 
friends  on  the  night  she  had  last  dined  with  Ishbel.  Should 
she  go  to  Paris  and  rid  herself  of  the  disease  once  for  all  ? 
What  prospect  of  happiness  if  love  were  able  to  induce  a 
misery  keener  than  any  of  its  compensations?  If  she 
could  feel  like  this  now,  knowing  that  he  loved  her,  and 
that  the  separation  was  but  a  matter  of  time,  what  might 
she  not  suffer  if  he  ceased  to  love  her,  if  he  gave  her  cause 
for  jealousy,  if  she  found  herself  disappointed  in  him  ?  It 
would  be  worse,  far  worse.  Now,  at  least,  she  was  —  not 
free ;  no  one  ever  felt  more  of  a  slave  —  but  at  least  with 
the  power  to  attain  freedom.  There  would  be  a  deep 
satisfaction,  to  say  nothing  of  relief,  in  the  knowledge  that 
she  never  need  think  of  him  again  —  this  man  that  had 
destroyed  her  fine  poise,  her  remarkable  powers,  made  her 
the  slave  of  the  race,  the  victim  of  the  ancient  instinct,  a 
mere  instrument  upon  which  Nature  was  playing  her  old 
tune  in  contemptuous  disregard  of  those  years  in  which  she 
had  dwelt  on  impersonal  heights  seldom  attained  by  young 
and  beautiful  women.  She  almost  hated  him.  Better 
have  done  with  it  at  once.  In  all  her  life  with  France  she 
had  never  known  depression  like  this,  for  love  adds  the 
sense  of  impotence  to  calamity. 

She  got  out  of  bed,  without  ringing  for  her  bath,  and 
began  to  pack  her  trunk.  She  didn't  care  if  she  never  took 
a  bath  again.  She  hated  herself,  and  she  hated  Tay.  Above 
all  she  hated  the  rain. 


448  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

But  in  the  midst  of  her  packing  she  sat  back  on  the  floor 
and  scowled.  To  receive  suggestions  one  must  be  perfectly 
amenable.  There  must  be  no  reserve  at  the  back  of  the 
head.  Although  she  ground  her  teeth,  she  admitted  that 
she  would  permit  no  man,  no  science,  to  destroy  the  image  of 
Tay  in  her  mind,  root  him  out  of  her  life.  Nor  would  she 
confess  herself  a  coward  —  nor  violate  the  jealous  instincts 
of  her  sex.  If  the  time  came  when  she  must  banish  him, 
she  would  do  it  herself.  Good  God  !  She  was  female  all 
through.  Suffering  was  a  part  of  her  birthright.  She 
would  give  up  not  the  least  of  the  accompaniments  of  love. 

Cursing  herself  for  a  fool,  she  rang  for  her  bath,  dressed 
herself,  and  determined  to  walk  out  of  doors,  if  the  valley 
had  turned  into  a  lake. 

But  by  the  time  she  had  swallowed  her  coffee  and  rolls 
the  skies  had  cleared,  and  she  started  out  with  a  guide 
and  a  sled.  There  was  always  excitement  in  tobogganing. 
For  a  bit  the  keen  air  revived  her,  but  the  hills  and  valley 
had  new  terrors,  for  every  step  reminded  her  of  her  lover. 
Black  protest  left  her,  but  was  followed  by  a  sadness  so 
profound  that  she  feared  to  dissolve  in  the  presence  of  her 
guide,  and  sent  him  home.  She  had  planned  to  visit  the 
lake/ but  she  found  that  it  would  be  as  easy  to  break  her 
word  and  follow  Tay  to  London. 

A  new  and  horrid  fear  had  begun  to  haunt  her.  Did 
he  really  love  her  as  he  had  loved  her  before  she  had  made 
him,  for  a  few  moments,  at  least,  the  plaything  of  her  will 
and  her  science  ?  He  had  forgiven  her,  but  must  not  such 
a  memory  rankle,  eventually  induce  a  permanent  resent 
ment  —  fear  —  hatred  possibly  ? 

She  returned  to  her  room,  the  only  place  unassociated 
with  him.  But  although  it  was  a  refuge  in  a  sense,  she 
found  little  comfort  in  it,  for  the  very  atmosphere  was 
thick  with  her  long  hours  of  misery.  She  sat  down  and 
made  a  deliberate  attempt  to  banish  her  depression,  that 
manifest  of  Nature's  resentment  at  even  the  temporary 
balking  of  her  desires. 

"The  ancient  instinct !"  she  thought  bitterly.     "We  are 


DANIEL  TAY  449 

all  the  same  fools  when  it  comes  to  a  man  —  the  man  - 
when  the  race  is  trying  to  struggle  on  through  its  victims." 
She  looked  back  upon  the  past  eight  years  as  upon  a  period 
of  transcendent  happiness.  More  than  ever  she  was  con 
vinced  that  the  only  unmitigated  happiness  lay  in  self- 
completion,  in  independence  of  the  sex  in  man.  Love  was 
a  splendid  disease  induced  by  Nature  to  further  her  one 
end;  accompanied  by  moments  of  hallucination  called 
happiness,  but  which  in  the  last  analysis  were  but  the 
prelude  to  a  lifetime  of  every  variety  of  sorrow  and  disillusion. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  women  that  steered  safely  clear  of 
this  smiling  island  with  a  thousand  jagged  teeth  beneath 
the  rippling  waters,  and  elected  to  stand  alone,  were  free 
to  accept  the  other  great  gifts  of  life,  to  attain  to  a  form 
of  serenity  and  content,  beside  which  love  and  its  delusions 
were  the  earthly  hell.  In  the  last  four  years  she  had  never 
cast  a  thought  to  love,  the  future  had  loomed  as  perfect  as 
the  present.  And  she  had  weakly  slid  down  into  chaos  ! 

The  immortal  women  !    Oh,  lord  !     Oh,  lord  ! 

She  reviewed  her  life  from  the  time  when,  the  wife  of  an 
abhorred  husband,  she  had  begun,  unconsciously  at  first, 
to  build  up  that  strength,  which,  when  the  crucial  tests 
came,  enabled  her  to  control,  in  a  measure,  the  present,  to 
exult  in  the  knowledge  that  she  had  proved  herself  stronger 
than  life;  instead  of  losing  her  mind,  or  becoming  the 
plaything  of  men.  She  had  even  dismissed  Nigel  Herbert 
when  he  came  with  freedom  and  something  like  happiness 
in  his  hand ;  proud  of  her  strength  to  work  out  her  destiny 
unaided. 

Strength !  Her  mind  flew  from  this  vision  of  past 
solidarity  to  her  years  at  the  feet  of  the  wise  men  of  Benares. 
It  was  not  pleasant  to  dwell  upon  the  compliments  of  Hadji 
Sadra,  but  she  recalled  his  initiations  and  suggestions,  and 
those  of  Swani  Dambaba;  they  had  given  her  a  power  over 
herself  and  others  seldom  possessed  by  Occidentals.  But 
she  could  hardly  formulate  them  ;  they  were  enveloped  in  a 
haze,  as  elusive  and  remote  as  dreams.  Had  she  been  but 
cunningly  equipped  to  play  her  part  in  the  great  battle; 
20 


450  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

and,  the  part  played,  was  she  perchance  set  free  to  follow 
the  commoner  destiny  of  woman  ?  There  was  some  satis 
faction  in  the  thought,  but  her  ego  felt  slapped  in  the 
face.  She  had  fancied  her  destiny  mightily,  and  this  anti 
climax  was  no  part  of  the  program  of  the  immortal  women. 
Still,  why  not?  Her  inner  vision,  sharpened  though  it 
might  have  been  by  her  masters,  could  not  pierce  the  future, 
nor  her  judgment,  while  captive  in  the  gray  matter  of  the 
mortal  brain,  presume  to  determine  exactly  what  destinies 
those  immortal  women  had  mapped  out  for  themselves  on 
earth.  For  all  she  knew  Tay  might  have  been  composed  to 
save  his  country,  and  hers  the  glorious  part  to  help  him. 

But  at  this  point  she  sat  down  on  the  floor  once  more 
and  finished  the  packing  of  her  trunk.  None  knew  better 
than  she  the  distinguished  powers  of  the  human  mind  for 
self-deception.  With  her  own  personal  gift  for  subtle 
reasoning,  to  say  nothing  of  her  imagination,  she  could 
persuade  herself  in  another  fifteen  minutes  that  it  was  her 
duty  to  take  the  first  steamer  for  New  York  and  await  Tay  in 
the  facile  state  of  Nevada.  She  should  reason  no  more,  but 
be  guided  by  events.  Meanwhile  let  love  devour  her,  burn 
her  up,  torment  her  with  fears,  exalt  her  with  visions  of 
the  perfect  union.  But  not  in  Partenkirchen.  She  should 
amuse  herself  in  Berlin  until  Tay's  final  telegram  set  her 
free  to  go  to  Nevis.  "The  dog  to  its  kennel,"  she  thought 
grimly.  "  That's  the  place  for  me.  I'll  find  my  balance 
there  if  anywhere." 


XVI 

ON  the  evening  of -Julia's  departure  for  Nevis,  Ishbel 
entered  her  husband's  study  and  perched  herself  on  the  arm 
of  his  chair. 

"Eric,"  she  said,  "when  you  have  made  a  promise  you 
can't  break,  is  it  wrong  to  get  round  it,  if  it  is  for  the  good 
of  some  one  you  are  very  fond  of  ?" 

"What  are  you  driving  at?  Nothing  more  interesting 
than  the  workings  of  the  female  conscience  under  fire." 

"You  like  Mr.  Tay?" 

"Rather.  Never  liked  a  man  more.  Deuced  good  chap 
all  round." 

"You  think  that  he  and  Julia  should  marry?" 

"I  do.  But  am  not  so  sure  they  will.  Julia's  a  hard 
nut  to  crack." 

"Quite  so.     But  I  want  her  to  be  as  happy  as  I  am." 

"Right  you  are.     Tay's  the  man." 

"There's  something  I  promised  Bridgit  not  to  tell  either 
Julia  or  Mr.  Tay.  But  I  didn't  promise  not  to  tell  you." 

Dark  laughed.  "  I  begin  to  see  daylight.  I  supjwse  even 
Bridgit  doesn't  encourage  you  to  have  secrets  from  your 
husband." 

"You  arc  a  dear !  Well,  it's  this.  France  is  very  low, 
has  a  bad  case  of  heart  and  may  go  any  minute." 

Dark  whistled.     "That  would  simplify  matters." 

"Yesterday  I  called  at  Kingsborough  House  and  gently 
wormed  the  whole  truth  out  of  the  duchess.  The  attacks 
are  growing -more  and  more  frequent.  The  doctors  don't 
give  him  a  fortnight." 

Dark  stood  up,  "  I  see  !    I  see  ! " 

"I  didn't  dare  tell  you  until  Mr.  Tay  and  Julia  had  both 
left.  If  you  had  told  him,  he  wouldn't  have  gone,  and  Julia 

451 


452  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

would  hold  out,  here  in  England.  But  on  Nevis,  on  a 
tropical  island  !  All  these  associations  and  duties  will  seem 
like  a  dream  down  there,  and-one  hasn't  much  energy  in  the 
tropics,  anyhow,  to  say  nothing  of  being  steeped  in  an 
atmosphere  of  romance.  I  want  you  to  cable  Mr.  Tay  - 
so  that  he  will  get  your  message  when  he  arrives  in  New 
York  day  after  to-morrow  —  that  France  is  dying,  that 
Julia  has  sailed  for  Nevis,  and  that  if  he  is  wise,  he  will  go 
there  at  once  —  he  can  get  there  first,  I  should  think,  for 
the  Royal  Mail  takes  eighteen  days  —  and  marry  her  the 
moment  he  gets  another  cable  from  you  announcing  France's 
death.  Do  you  mind?" 

"  Rather  not!" 

"  Tell  him  to  say  nothing  to  Julia  about  France's  condition 
until  he  is  quite  certain  she  is  free  — 

"Do  you  want  me  to  go  stony  - 

"Oh,  what  do  a  few  pounds  matter  — 

"When  arranging  people's  destinies  !     Well,  go  on." 

"Julia  must  not  return  to  England.  If  she  did,  Mr.  Tay 
would  have  to  begin  all  over  again.  I  don't  like  anything 
that  looks  like  treachery  to  the  women,  but  still  - 

"I  do,"  said  Dark,  dryly.  "Permit  me  to  take  the 
whole  matter  over  to  my  own  conscience.  That's  what 
a  man  is  made  for,  among  other  things.  Tay  shall  marry 
Julia  if  I  can  help  him  manage  it,  and  the  women  can  go 
where  I've  consigned  them  several  times  already.  Now, 
I'll  go  out  and  send  that  cablegram." 


BOOK  VI 
FANNY 


DURING  the  long  voyage  Julia  dismissed  her  work  and  its 
obligations  from  her  mind,  and  resigned  herself  to  that 
form  of  happiness  women  are  able  to  extract  from  the  mere 
fact  of  being  in  love,  even  when  indefinitely  separated  from 
the  object.  Her  fear  that  she  might  have  alienated  Tay  by 
her  excursion  into  his  brain  had  been  banished  by  his 
letters,  and  she  was  free  to  enjoy  herself  miserably.  She 
was  delighted  to  find  that  he  filled  every  waking  moment, 
that  neither  literature  nor  the  several  pleasant  people  with 
whom  she  made  acquaintance  could  send  him  to  the  rear, 
and  she  cultivated  long  hours  of  solitude  and  idleness 
during  which  she  thought  of  nothing  else.  She  projected 
her  spirit  into  the  future  and  California,  and  dreamed  of 
happiness  only :  politics,  reform,  and  the  improvement  of 
the  race  were  not  for  dreams.  The  only  real  rival  of  love  Is 
Art,  for  that  in  itself  is  a  deep  personal  passion,  its  function 
an  act  of  creation,  fed  by  some  mysterious  perversion  of 
sex,  and  demanding  all  the  imagination's  activities.  This 
rival  Tay  was  mercifully  spared,  and  the  god  of  duty, 
always  arbitrarily  elevated  and  largely  the  child  of  egoism, 
stands  a  poor  chance  when  gasping  in  the  furnace  of  love. 
Abstractly,  Julia  purposed  to  return  to  her  duty  when  its 
call  became  imperious,  but  during  this  period  of  liberty 
she  f jit  she  would  be  more  than  fool  to  close  her  eyes  to 
any  of  the  beatic  pictures  composed  by  her  imagination 
and  the  tumults  of  sex. 

Of  course  there  were  hours  when  she  felt  profoundly 
depressed  and  miserable,  when  she  stormed  and  protested, 
and  hated  the  fluid  desert  that  prevented  her  from  changing 
her  course  and  fleeing  to  Tay.  But  this,  also,  was  novel  and 
exciting  and  part  of  love's  curriculum  ;  she  revelled  in  every 
manifestation  of  her  long-denied  womanhood,  and  was 

455 


456  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

further  thrilled  with  the  belief  that  no  woman  had  ever 
suffered  such  an  upheaval  before.  She  wrote  a  daily  letter 
to  Tay,  revealing  herself  without  mercy,  and  found  a  keen 
delight  in  this  new  power  of  his  to  annihilate  the  profound 
reserve  of  her  nature. 

The  only  thing  she  didn't  tell  him  was  of  the  return  of 
her  old  longing  for  children.     That  inherent  desire  had 
slunk  into  horrified  retreat  at  France's  betrothal  kiss,  and 
had  visited  her  but  fitfully  in  India,  but  now  it  reasserted  it 
self  almost  as  tyrannically  as  her  longing  for  the  man  who 
was  the  mate  of  her  sex  as  surely  as  of  her  soul  and  brain. 
She  even  felt  a  passionate  delight  that  she  soon  could  satisfy 
it  vicariously  in  Fanny.     She  had  never  ceased  to  love  this 
child  she  once  had  cuddled  daily  in  her  arms,  and  was  far 
more  excited  at  the  prospect  of  being  with  her  again,  than 
of  seeing  her  strange  old  mother.     To  be  sure,  her  love  for 
that  once  fond  parent  had  risen  in  all  its  old  strength  during 
this  carnival  of  the  primal,  but  Mrs.  Edis  at  her  best  was 
unresponsive,   and  after   the  long  separation  unlikely  to 
thaw  for  some  time  to  come.     In  Fanny  she  could  find 
satisfaction  for  her  maternal  yearnings  until   they  found 
their  natural  outlet.     And  she  should   take  her  back   to 
London,  with  or  without  her  mother's  consent.     Fanny  ! 
What  did  she  look  like  ?     She  had  been  an  adorable  little 
dark  baby ;   surely  she  must  have  inherited  the  beauty  of 
the  family.     Some  were  dark  and  others  almost  blond,  like 
herself,  but  both  the  Byams  and  the  Edises  had  always 
been  famous  for  their  looks.     Even  Mrs.  Winstone  had 
grudgingly   admitted    that   Fanny   had   exterior   promise, 
and  if  she  had  turned  out  a  beauty,  Ishbel  should  give  her 
the  best  of  girl's  good  times  in  London.     And  she  herself 
should  have  something  to  cling  to  during  these  awful  months 
-  perhaps  years  —  of  separation. 

After  she  changed  steamers  at  Barbadoes  and  began  the 
leisurely  journey  up  the  Caribbean  Sea,  she  was  much 
diverted  by  the  beauty  of  the  long  chain  of  islands,  and 
began  to  thrill  with  the  prospect  of  seeing  her  birthplace 
once  more.  Her  roots  were  in  Nevis;  it  held  the  dust  of 


FANNY  457 

generations  of  her  ancestors;  it  was  the  one  perfect,  peace* 
ful,  and  happy  memory  of  her  life,  and  never  could  she  love 
even  California  as  well.  She  knew  that  she  should  have 
flown  to  it  in  her  trouble  were  it  empty  of  both  her  mother 
and  Fanny. 

After  the  steamer  left  Antigua,  she  never  took  her  eyes 
from  the  stately  pyramid,  shadowy  at  first,  detaching 
itself  with  a  sharper  definition  every  moment.  When  she 
was  close  enough  to  see  the  green  on  its  sweeping  lines,  its 
waving  fields  of  cane,  its  fine  ruins  of  old  "  Great  Houses,"  the 
white  roads,  deserted  save  for  an  occasional  laborer  or  a 
colored  woman  swinging  along  with  a  basket  on  her  head,  a 
pic'nie  clinging  to  her  hip,  the  waving  palms  on  the  shore, 
the  white  cloud  that  hovered  by  day  over  the  lost  crater,  and 
extinguished  the  island  at  night,  she  ran  to  her  stateroom 
to  quell  an  almost  unbearable  excitement.  But  Collins  was 
packing,  and  Collins  was  already  puzzled,  perturbed,  and 
speculating.  No  quicker  antidote  to  tumultuous  emotions 
could  be  devised.  Julia's  tears  retreated,  and  she  began  to 
rearrange  her  flying  locks  before  the  mirror;  but  it  was 
impossible  to  keep  the  exultation  out  of  her  voice. 

"We're  nearly  there,  Collins  !" 

"Yes,  mum." 

"It  is  my  old  home  !  Just  think  of  it,  I  haven't  seen  it 
for  sixteen  years." 

"Yes,  mum." 

"I'm  sure  you  will  enjoy  staying  here  for  a  bit,  Nevis  is 
so  beautiful.  There's  nothing  in  all  Europe  like  it." 

"  I  shan't  be  sea-sick.     I'm  thankful  for  that" 

"How  do  I  look?  I  haven't  seen  my  waist  line  since  I 
left  London." 

"I  dressed  you  this  morning,  mum.  You  look  quite 
all  right.  Shall  I  really  sleep  in  a  Christian  bed  to-night,  and 
have  a  decent  cup  of  tea  ?" 

"You  shall,  you  shall !  And  if  my  mother  still  kills 
string)^  old  cows,  I'll  get  good  English  beef  for  vou  from  Bath 
House." 

"Thank  God,  mum.     Even-thing  on  board  ship  tastes 


458  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES' 

that  horrid  I  could  eat  a  cow  cooked  particular,  no  matter 
how  stringy.  Don't  lean  on  the  rail  too  much.  Linen 
crushes  that  easy." 

Julia,  who  wore  a  linen  coat  and  skirt  of  crash  brown 
linen,  with  a  hat  and  parasol,  and  shoes  and  gloves,  of  a 
darker  shade,  nodded  at  herself  in  the  glass  and  returned 
to  the  deck.  For  the  moment  Tay  was  forgotten. 

The  steamer  was  rounding  the  island  and  she  stared  at 
Bath  House,  the  greatest  hotel  in  the  world  in  its  time,  a 
picturesque  ruin  in  her  memory,  now  rebuilt  in  part  and 
showing  many  signs  of  life.  Colored  servants  were  hanging 
out  of  the  upper  windows  cheering  the  ship,  and  gayly 
dressed  people  were  sitting  on  the  terrace.  But  Julia, 
although  for  a  moment  she  resented  the  least  of  the  changes 
in  her  island,  soon  forgot  Bath  House  as  she  eagerly  gazed 
through  her  field-glass  at  the  groups  down  by  the  jetty. 
There  was  the  usual  crowd  of  whites  and  negroes,  some  with 
much  business  to  attend  to  when  the  ship  cast  anchor, 
more  with  none  whatever.  In  a  moment  she  detached  a 
group  striving  to  detach  itself  from  the  pushing  crowd  - 
all  Charles  Town  seemed  to  have  turned  out  —  and  saw  Mrs. 
Winstone,  Mr.  Pirie,  several  people  of  the  same  class,  and 
one  young  girl.  Could  that  be  Fanny?  Once  more  her 
hands  shook.  The  girl  was  dancing  up  and  down,  waving 
her  handkerchief.  It  must  be.  Julia  laid  aside  her  field- 
glass  and  waved  in  return.  Then  the  delay  seemed  endless. 

The  water  had  become  suddenly  alive  with  boats.  Little 
black  boys  were  diving  for  pennies.  It  was  a  gay  tropical 
picture;  and,  behind,  the  palms  and  the  cocoanut-trees, 
fringing  the  suave  flowing  lines  of  the  great  volcano. 

The  ladder  was  swung,  the  first  officer  gave  her  his  arm, 
and  she  descended  to  the  boat,  followed  by  the  uneasy 
Collins,  who  looked  at  the  heaving  waters  below  that 
frail  craft  with  dire  forebodings.  But  Julia  had  no  sym 
pathy  in  her  for  Collins.  Her  thoughts  were  on  Fanny, 
when  they  were  not  adjusting  her  mask  of  bright  cool 
serenity.  She  had  no  intention  of  making  an  exhibition 
of  herself  in  public. 


FA\\V 

All  doubt  of  Fanny's  identity  was  set  at  rest,  for  a  girl's 
long  supple  figure  was  flying  down  the  jetty,  and  she  was 
waving  frantically  and  calling  out,  " Aunt  Julia!  Aunt 
Julia  !"  Julia  received  a  momentary  shock,  not  quite  sure 
that  she  liked  being  called  aunt  by  this  tall  girl,  who  looked 
more  than  her  eighteen  years.  But  that  was  a  trifle  and  she 
gazed  with  both  fondness  and  admiration  at  the  blooming 
beauty  cf  the  girl  who  now  stood  quite  alone  on  the  edge 
of  the  jetty.  Fanny  was  very  dark,  showing  the  French 
strain  in  their  blood  (Mrs.  Edis's  father  had  found  his  wife 
on  Martinique) ;  her  large  eyes  and  abundant  hair  were 
black,  her  skin  olive  and  claret,  her  full  large  mouth  as 
red  as  one  of  the  hibiscus  flowers  of  her  native  island;  her 
figure,  both  slender  and  full,  was  as  beautiful  as  her  face, 
even  in  the  white  cotton  frock  which  she  probably  had  made 
itself.  Julia  thought  she  had  never  seen  a  more  perfect 
type  of  voluptuous  young  womanhood,  and  reflected  that 
she  should  not  be  long  marrying  her  off  in  London,  even 
without  a  dowry. 

She  smiled  happily,  and  a  moment  later,  elevated  to  the 
jetty  by  the  boatman,  was  enveloped,  smothered,  over 
whelmed  by  Fanny. 

"Oh,  Aunt  Julia!"  cried  the  girl  between  her  kisses. 
"Just  to  think  you  are  here  at  last !  Something  is  actually 
happening  on  this  old  island.  Oh,  promise  me  that  you 
will  take  me  away  with  you." 

"Yes,  yes,  indeed,"  gasped  Julia,  her  spirits  unaccount 
ably  dashed.  "Of  course  I  will,  darling.  How  beautiful 
you  are!" 

"  Oh,  am  I  ?  Much  good  it  has  done  me  so  far.  I've  just 
spoken  to  a  young  man  for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  and  he 
has  gray  hair." 

"You  poor  child!  Did  — did  — my  mother  come 
down?" 

"Not  she.  The  steamer  wasn't  expected  until  seven, 
and  she  was  asleep.  When  I  saw  it  coming,  I  ran.  She'd 
never  have  let  me  come.  I've  never  been  outside  the  estate 
alone  before.  Even  Aunt  Maria  hasn't  taken  me  down  to 


460  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

Bath  House.     There  she  is  with  an  old  gentleman  that 
wears  a  wig." 

They  had  reached  the  end  of  the  long  jetty,  and  Julia 
kissed  her  aunt,  shook  hands  with  Mr.  Pirie,  who  had 
eyes  for  no  one  but  Fanny,  and  was  introduced  to  a  young 
gray-haired  man  named  Morison." 

"M0rison,"  she  repeated  mechanically  to  herself.  "  Where 
have  I  heard  that  name?" 

But  she  had  no  time  to  think.  Mrs.  Winstone  was  talk 
ing  rapidly.  Julia  wondered  if  the  tropics  had  affected  her 
aunt's  nerves.  She  was  twirling  her  parasol,  and  her  eyes 
had  more  intelligence  in  them  than  she  usually  admitted, 
save  when  conducting  a  dilettante  Suffrage  meeting. 

".Really,  Julia  ! "  she  exclaimed.  " It's  too  tiresome.  But 
I  didn't  expect  the  Royal  Mail  for  hours  yet ;  came  down  to 
see  Hannah  and  Pirie  at  Bath  House,  and  sent  the  horses  to 
be  shod.  They're  not  ready,  and  there's  nothin'  else  - 
everybody  drivin'.  Do  you  think  you  could  walk  up  the 
mountain  in  this  heat?" 

"  Of  course  she  can't !  "cried  Fanny.  "  Of  course  she  can't !" 

"I'm  sure  I  could,"  began  Julia,  but  once  more  Fanny 
enveloped  her. 

"Oh,  no,  darling,"  she  cried  entreatingly.  "You'd  faint 
in  that  heat  —  climbing.  It  was  bad  enough  coming  down. 
And,  oh,  I  do  want  another  glimpse  of  Bath  House.  You've 
no  idea  how  excited  I  was  all  the  time  it  was  building.  It 
was  like  an  old  romance  come  to  life.  But  much  good  it 
has  done  me.  And  it  has  an  orchestra  !" 

Julia  laughed  outright.  Fanny  might  not  possess  the 
priceless  gift  of  tact,  but  she  was  enchantingly  young. 
Her  exuberant  youth,  in  fact,  made  everybody  else  feel 
superannuated,  and  her  next  remark,  as  she  and  Julia 
started  for  the  hotel  arm  in  arm,  did  not  remove  the  im 
pression. 

"How  oddly  young  you  look,  Aunt  Julia,"  observed  the 
girl,  whose  large  curious  eyes  were  exploring  every  detail  of 
Julia's  appearance.  "Of  course  I  knew  you  were  much 
younger  than  Granny  or  Aunt  Maria,  or  I  shouldn't  have 


FANNY  461 

been  so  keen  to  have  you  come  home,  but  you  look  almost 
a  girl.  I  suppose  it's  because  you  are  quite  a  little  thing  and 
haven't  grown  either  scrawny  or  fat." 

" Really,"  said  her  aunt,  dryly,  "I'm  five  feet  three  and 
a  half,  and  thirty-four  is  a  long  way  from  old  age." 

"  Well,  it's  not  young,"  said  Fanny,  who  appeared  to  be 
of  a  hopelessly  literal  turn.  "Thirty-four  !  Why  you  are 
only  a  year  younger  than  mother  would  have  been." 

This  remark  touched  a  chord  which  for  the  moment 
routed  anxious  vanity.  Julia  put  her  arm  about  Fanny's 
waist,  no  slenderer  than  her  own.  "I  wish  you  were 
mine!"  she  said  fondly.  "But  sister  is  the  next  best 
thing.  I  can't  have  you  calling  me  aunt.  That  is  much 
too  remote  —  I  have  wanted  you  for  so  many  years.  You 
must  imagine  that  you  are  my  little  sister,  and  call  me  Julia. 
Will  you?" 

"Yes,  if  you  like.  But  promise  me  that  you  will  bring 
me  to  Bath  House  every  day.  You  will  want  to  come  your 
self,  if  only  to  get  away  from  Great  House,  and  you  have 
friends  there  —  a  nice  old  lady  named  Macmanus  —  and  I 
saw  two  or  three  women  with  such  frocks !  Did  you  bring 
me  any  frocks  from  London?" 

"Ah  —  I  didn't !  But,  you  see,  I  not  only  left  in  such 
a  hurry,  but  I  had  no  idea  whether  you  were  tall  or  short. 
Of  course  I  brought  you  some  presents." 

^Oh,  did  you ?    What  are  they?" 

"Some  pretty  silver  things  for  your  dressing-table,  and 
a  manicure  set,  and  some  scarves,  and  all  sorts  of  fol-de- 
rols  that  pretty  girls  like." 

"Well,  that's  too  sweet  of  you,"  and  Fanny,  kissed  her 
again.  "But  I'd  rather  have  had  frocks.  What  shall  I 
dp  if  you  take  me  to  the  party  at  Bath  House  on  Thursday 
night  ?  —  and  you  must  !  You  must  !  There's  no  dress 
maker  on  Nevis  that  could  make  a  party-gown." 

"You  shall  have  any  of  my  evening  gowns  you  want. 
You  are  taller,  but  Collins  is  quite  a  genius." 

Fanny  almost  danced.  "That  will  be  heavenly.  Oh  — 
oh— talk  about  frocks!" 


462  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

"What  a  pretty  woman!" 

They  were  both  looking  at  a  very  smart  young  woman 
advancing  down  the  palm  avenue.  She  had  a  dark  vivid 
little  face,  and  wore  a  frock  of  sublimated  pink  linen,  and 
a  soft  drooping  black  hat.  She  smiled  and  waved  her 
parasol  as  she  caught  Julia's  eye. 

"  Of  course  you've  forgotten  me,  Mrs.  France,"  she  cried 
gayly. 

"This  is  Mrs.  Morison,  of  New  York,  Julia,"  said  Mrs. 
Winstone,  who  had  accelerated  her  steps.  Her  voice  had 
lost  its  drawl. 

"  Mrs.  Morison  ?  "  asked  Julia,  with  a  premonitory  tremor. 
"Yes  — Emily  Tay— -but  of  course  you've  quite  for 
gotten  me.     I  never  forgot  you,  though  —  and  that  terrible 
old  castle  you  showed  me  for  a  solid  hour." 

Julia  had  taken  her  hand  mechanically,  wondering  if 
Nevis  were  shaking  herself  loose  from  the  sea. 

"Of  course  I  do  remember  you.  I  liked  your  inde 
pendence.  But  how  odd  you  should  be  here." 

"Not  a  bit  of  it.  I'm  always  after  novelty  —  restless 
American,  you  know,  and  this  is  the  very  latest.  Besides, 
my  husband  had  an  attack  of  Wall  Street  prostration,  and 
this  wasn't  too  far.  But  it's  simply  enchanting  to  see  you 
again  —  I've  been  so  proud  these  last  two  or  three  years 
to  be  able  to  say  I  knew  you." 

Fanny  cast  a  glance  over  her  shoulder,  then  fell  back 
between  Mr.  Pirie  and  Mr.  Morison. 

"I  saw  Dan  in  New  York,"  Dan's  sister  rattled  on. 
was  too  funny.     He  was  in  a  beastly  glum  temper,  until 
I  mentioned  your  name.     Then  he  cleared  up  so  suddenly 
that  I  had  my  suspicions.     Do  you  remember  how  dead 
in  love  with  you  he  was  at  the  tender  age  of  fifteen,  and 
what  a  time  Cherry  had  inducing  him  to  go  home  without 
you  ?     I've  just  the  ghost  of  an  idea  he  hasn't  got  over  it. 
Poor  Dan  !    Of  course  you'd  never  look  at  him." 
"And  why  not?"  asked  Julia,  in  arms. 
"Well,  you  are  some  person  over  there,  and  California 
is  the  jumping-ofl  place." 


FANNY  463 

"I  thought  it  was  the  most  beautiful  country  in  the 
world." 

"Oh,  it's  that,  all  right.  But  after  London  —  or  New 
York  !  I  do  want  Dan  to  transfer  his  energies  to  New  York. 
It's  the  only  place  in  America  to  live." 

"Perhaps  he  thinks  he  can  do  more  good  in  his  own 
state." 

"New  York  being  in  no  need  of  a  clean-up  !  However, 
no  doubt  you're  right.  Dan's  a  tremendous  gun  out 
there,  if  he  does  make  himself  unpopular.  I  try  to  console 
myself  with  the  thought  that  he's  making  a  national  repu 
tation,  but  meanwhile  my  income  doesn't  go  up.  How 
ever,  of  course  you're  not  interested  in  our  politics.  Dan'll 
be  delighted  to  hear  that  we've  met  again.  Here  we  are. 
You  must  be  dying  for  your  tea." 


II 

THEY  crossed  the  terraces  and  entered  the  cool  spacious 
hall  of  the  hotel.  Mrs.  Macmanus,  who  was  sitting  alone, 
came  forward  and  kissed  Julia  warmly. 

"So  delighted  you've  come  down  here  to  liven  us  up  a 
bit,  my  dear.  Maria  has  almost  deserted  us.  It  was 
only  to-day  I  heard  you  were  coming.  Bath  House  is  in 
quite  a  flutter." 

"My  nerves  haven't  been  worth  mentioning  since  we 
got  Julia's  cable,"  said  Mrs.  Winstone,  who  was  close  on 
Julia's  heels.  "I  came  to  Nevis  to  rest  them,  and  Fanny 
alone  would  set  them  on  edge.  I  don't  believe  she's  slept 
since  she  heard  Julia  was  comin'." 

Julia,  whose  agitation  had  subsided,  hastily  swallowed  a 
cup  of  strong  tea,  left  the  group  abruptly,  and  put  her 
arm  about  Fanny.  Here,  at  least,  was  peace  and  diver 
sion. 

"Come  and  talk  to  me,  darling,"  she  said.  "I've  a 
thousand  things  to  say  to  you." 

Fanny,  who  was  alone  with  Mr.  Pirie  at  the  moment, 
went  willingly,  and  they  sat  down  on  one  of  the  sofas  at 
the  end  of  the  long  hall. 

"Now  let  me  really  look  at  you.  Yes,  you  look  like 
Fawcett.  Do  you  remember  your  father?" 

"How  could  I  ?     I  was  only  three  when  he  died." 

"And  now  you  are  eighteen  !  I  cannot  take  it  in.  I 
believe  I  have  always  thought  of  you  as  a  baby." 

"Oh,  do  you  think  Granny'll  let  me  go  back  with  you? 
She  hates  the  world  and  despises  men  —  as  if  they  were  all 
alike  !     But   at   least  -        Oh,  please  swear,  dear  Aunt  - 
Julia  —  that  you  will  help  me  to  play  a  bit  while  you're 

464 


FANNY  465 

here.  You  can't  fancy  how  dull  I  am.  I  want  to  come 
to  Bath  House  every  day,  and  dance  every  night.  You 
can  tell  Granny  that  Mrs.  Morison  is  an  old  friend  of 
yours,  and  has  come  to  Nevis  to  see  you.  Of  course 
Granny'll  let  me  go  anywhere  with  you." 

"Poor  mother!" 

"Oh,  she's  had  her  own  way  all  her  life;  just  what  I'd 
like  to  have.  Please  pity  me,  Julia.  Why,  I  might  marry 
if  I  ever  had  a  chance  to  see  a  man  nearer  than  through  a 
tield-glass.  The  war-ships  that  I've  seen  come  and  go  in 
this  roadstead  !  And  the  St.  Kitts  girls  dancing  on  them  ! 
But  I !  I  might  as  well  be  one  of  those  Dutch  women  in 
the  crater  of  St.  Batts,  making  drawn-work  from  one  year's 
end  to  the  other." 

"Poor  child  !    You  may  be  sure  I'll  do  all  I  can.     But 
-  ah  -  "  Julia    felt     quite    the    aunt     for     a    moment. 
"Don't  be  in  such  a  hurry  to  marry." 

''But  I  am  in  a  hurry  to  marry.  That's  the  only  road 
out  of  Nevis.  And  what  girl  isn't  in  a  hurry  to  marry? 
If  Granny  wouldn't  give  her  consent,  well — I'd  just  love 
to  elope." 

Julia  laughed.  "If  you  are  as  romantic  as  that,  I  must 
manage  that  you  see  a  good  bit  of  the  world  before  you 
enter  the  somewhat  prosaic  state  of  matrimony  - 

"I  am  romantic  —  rather  I  I  think  of  nothing  else  but 
love  —  love  —  love.  I've  made  up  a  lover  out  of  all  the 
novels  I've  read  —  and  I'll  have  one,  no  fear !  But  I 
must  have  a  chance  to  see  him  first.  So  please  give  it  to 
me." 

"Where  have  you  found  novels  to  read?  Mother  long 
since  wrote  me  to  send  you  none." 

"Oh,  I  know.  And  Aunt  Maria  keeps  hers  locked  up. 
But  I  run  the  estate,  you  know,  and  I  have  to  go  over  to 
St.  Kitts  every  now  and  again,  body-guarded  by  two  old 
servants,  of  course,  and  I've  made  friends  with  some  girls 
over  there,  and  they've  lent  me  a  few.  And  I  always 
manage  to  pass  an  hour  in  the  public  library,  and  look  at 
the  picture  papers.  Granny  takes  in  nothing  but  the 


466  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  HER  TIMES 

Weekly  Times.  Sometimes,  when  we  are  driving,  she  lets 
me  get  out  and  read  the  cablegrams  tacked  up  on  the 
court-house  door  !  Oh,  what  a  place  to  live  in  !' 

"And  yet  I  could  wish  that  I  had  never  left  Nevis.  I 
almost  wish  I  need  never  leave  it  again." 

"Oh,  you'll  get  over  that  in  about  a  week.  Aunt  Maria 
yawns  all  the  time.  If  it  weren't  for  her  complexion  and 
her  waist  line,  she'd  be  packing  now.  What  does  she 
want?  She's  always  spying  on  me." 

Mrs.  Winstone  descended  upon  them  precipitately. 
There  was  a  pleasurable  excitement  in  her  mien,  and  once 
more  Julia  wondered  if  she,  like  many  others,  had  found  the 
tropics  bad  for  the  nerves. 

"Fanny.  Mr.  Pirie  wants  to  talk  to  you,  calls  you  a 
blushing  peach,  volcanic  product:  you've  quite  rejuve 
nated  him.  I  want  to  ask  Julia  about  our  great  cause  in 
London." 

"I'll  not  talk  to  any  old  men.  Mr.  Morison's  quite 
nice.  What  a  bore  he's  married.  I  could  have  cried  when 
I  heard  it,  although  I  never  could  fall  in  love  with  a  man 
with  gray  hair."  And  she  deliberately  walked  over  to  the 
young  man  lounging  in  a  chair  and  staring  at  her. 

"A  bit  forward,  our  Fanny,"  said  Julia,  with  a  sigh. 
"But  she  has  all  her  father's  love  of  life." 

"And  all  her  grandmother's  of  havin'  her  own  way. 
Not  that  it's  worth  analyzin'.  Analyzin's  so  fatiguin'. 
She's  young,  pretty,  healthy,  starves  for  life,  and  exists  on 
a  volcano  !  I'd  feel  sorry  for  her  if  I  wasn't  sure  she  could 
take  care  of  herself.  What's  your  impression  of  her  ?  " 

"She's  a  beauty.  A  rather  obvious  type,  perhaps,  but 
still  -  How's  my  mother  ?  " 

"Quite  all  right.  She'll  bury  us  all,  and  then  merely 
desiccate  —  or  fly  off  on  a  broomstick." 

"  Was  —  is  —  do  you  think  she  wants  to  see  me  ? 
"Don't   ask  me.     She  won't  talk  about  you.     But- 
but  -    '  Mrs.  Winstone  shot  a  cunning  glance  out  of  her 
now  absent  and  ingenuous  orbs.     "Do  tell  me,  Julia,— 
I'm   expirin'   with   curiosity -- what   brought   you   here? 


l-'AXNY  467 

You  hadn't  the  least  notion  of  comin'  when  I  saw  you  last. 
Il,i>   Mr.   Tay 

"I  don't  care  to  talk  about  Mr.  Tay." 

"Of  course  it's  none  of  my  business,  but  please!  I've 
been  quite  excited  ever  since  I  came  down  to-day  —  it's 
astonishin'  what  will  interest  one  on  a  desert  island  !  - 
But  Pirie  and  Hannah  have  known  all  about  it  ever  since 
Mrs.  Morison  came.  It  seems  she  —  ah  !  —  well,  came 
down  here  on  purpose  to  see  you,  persuaded  her  husband 
he  was  ill—" 

"What  an  idea!" 

"Quite  so!" 

"But  after  all,  not  so  unnatural.  I  may  as  well  tell  you, 
Aunt  Maria  —  there  is  no  occasion  for  mystery  —  I  am 
-  that  is,  in  a  way  —  engaged  to  Mr.  Tay.  But  it's  all  in 
the  air,  at  present.  It  is  impossible  to  marry  him  without 
an  American  divorce,  and  it  is  not  necessary  to  explain  to 
you  how  out  of  the  question  that  will  be  for  some  time  to 
come.  But  —  I  was  feeling  rather  done,  and  the  truce  with 
the  Government  gave  me  the  opportunity  I  have  so  longed 
for  —  to  come  to  Nevis  once  more,  to  see  my  mother." 

"  Oh,  that  is  it!  Nevis  is  good  for  the  nerves;  or  would 
be  without  Fanny,  and  one  or  two  other  distractions. 
Now,  I've  quite  an  excitin'  duty  to  perform,  and  time's 
up.  Mr.  Tay  is  here!" 

"What?"  Julia  once  more  had  the  sensation  that 
Nevis  had  left  her  moorings.  She  caught  the  back  of  the 
sofa  for  support.  "What  are  you  talking  about?  Mr. 
Tay  is  in  California." 

"Not  he.  He's  been  here,  stalkin'  round  this  island, 
or  cruisin'  round  in  a  motor  boat  he's  hired,  for  the  last 
five  days.  I  saw  him  through  the  field-glass,  but  didn't 
know  what  brought  him  until  to-day." 

"But  what  —  what  —  has  he  come  for?  Oh,  how 
could  he!" 

"He'll  tell  you  that,  never  fear!  The  others,  includin' 
Mrs.  Morison,  were  all  for  a  surprise,  but  I  thought  it  my 
duty  to  tell  you.  That  is  the  reason  I  wanted  you  to  go 


468  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

straight  home  —  surprises  are  so  fatiguin'  --but  there 
may  be  time  yet.  He's  off  somewhere  in  his  boat,  and  the 
steamer  was  ahead  of  time  — 

Julia  sprang  to  her  feet.  "I'll  go  this  minute.  I  can 
walk.  You  stay  with  Fanny  —  poor  little  thing  - 

And  then  she  sat  down.  Tay  was  running  up  the  steps 
cf  the  terrace. 

Mrs.  Winstone  rose  and  retreated  gracefully.  Julia's 
heart  had  leaped,  but  she  was  very  angry.  She  had  made 
her  own  plans  too  long.  This  was  to  have  been  an  interval 
of  rest.  As  Tay  walked  rapidly  down  the  long  hall  she  was 
not  too  agitated  to  observe  that  although  his  keen  eyes 
were  alight  and  eager,  and  his  mouth  smiling,  there  was 
less  confidence  in  his  bearing  than  usual ;  she  also  observed 
that  white  linen  became  him  remarkably. 

"I  think  this  quite  abominable  of  you,"  she  said  coldly, 
as  he  dropped  into  the  chair  before  her.  She  withheld 
her  hand. 

"So  does  my  father.  But  please  don't  be  angry  with 
me.  I  really  couldn't  help  it  when  I  heard  — 

"How  did  you  hear?  Dark,  of  course.  What 
treachery  ! " 

"Treachery  to  me  if  he  hadn't!" 

"How  you  men  stand  by  one  another,"  said  Julia,  bit 
terly.  "Especially  when  it  is  to  defeat  a  woman." 

"Well,"  said  Tay,  laughing,  more  at  his  ease  in  the 
presence  of  futile  feminine  wrath,  "it  may  be  our  most 
contemptible  trait,  but  we  shall  be  driven  to  practise  it 
more  and  more,  I  fancy." 

"I  refuse  to  joke,  and  I  am  going  home  at  once." 

She  rose. 

"Sit  down,"  said  Tay,  peremptorily.  "If  you  don't,  I 
shall  kiss  you  in  the  presence  of  Bath  House.  They  can't 
hear  what  we  say,  but  you  may  be  sure  they  are  all  watch 
ing  us." 

Julia  hesitated,  then  sat  down.  "What — what  made 
you  do  this?  I  never  should  have  believed  it  of  you.  I 
came  here  for  rest  —  for  —  for  strength." 


FANNY  469 

"Strength?     Great  Scott!    You  need  less,  not  more." 

"Oh  —  I  -  You'll  never  know  what  I've  gone  through  ! 
I  shan't  give  you  the  letters  I  wrote  you  - 

"Now,  Julia,  be  rational.  I  simply  couldn't  resist 
coming,  that's  all.  I  cut  out  business,  politics,  every 
thing,  the  moment  there  was  a  prospect  of  seeing  you 
again  —  and  on  an  enchanted  island  !  The  rest  can  wait, 
but  I,  well,  I  couldn't !  This  past  month  has  seemed  like 
a  wasted  lifetime.  I  thought  I  was  resigned.  I  resisted 
engaging  a  passage  back  to  England  by  wireless.  I  might 
have  got  through  those  six  months  in  California  by  doing 
the  work  of  six  men;  but  I  could  see  no  reason  why  I 
shouldn't  spend  at  least  the  interval  between  steamers 
with  you  here.  There  will  be  no  harm  done  —  much  good, 
for  it  will  make  the  separation  shorter." 

"Dan,"  said  Julia,  sitting  upright,  "there  is  something 
behind  all  this.  What  have  you  really  come  here  for? 
After  all  it's  not  like  you.  In  the  first  place  you  have 
imperative  duties  in  California,  and  then  —  you  know, 
you  know,  that  I  need  all  my  strength." 

He  hesitated.  Should  he  tell  her?  But  there  are 
certain  facts  that  sound  ugly  when  put  into  bald  English, 
whatever  the  excuse ;  and  he  doubted  if  he  ever  could  tell 
her  that  he  had  come  to  Nevis  to  wait  for  a  cablegram 
announcing  the  death  of  her  husband.  Not  now,  at  all 
events ! 

"  My  dear  child!  "  he  said  earnestly,  and  before  his  hesita 
tion  became  noticeable.  "Is  not  love  excuse  enough  for 
anything  ?  Haven't  men  sacrificed  duty,  done  everything 
that  was  rash  and  foolish,  for  love,  since  the  beginning  of 
time  ?  The  prospect  of  two  or  three  weeks  with  you  on  a 
tropic  island  was  too  much  for  my  limited  powers  of  endur 
ance.  I  suddenly  wanted  you  more  than  anything  on 
earth.  This  is  a  wonderful  place  —  I  never  knew  I  had 
so  much  romance  in  me  —  let  us  forget  the  coming  separa 
tion  and  be  young  and  happy." 

Julia  leaned  back  and  looked  down.  "I  should  have 
told  you  more  about  my  mother,"  she  said,  infusing  her 


470  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

tones  with  ice  to  keep  them  from  vibrating  with  delight  at 
the  vision  he  had  evoked.  "Made  you  realize  just  what 
she  is.  You  will  never  be  able  to  cross  her  threshold. 
She  would  think  that  you  came  to  see  Fanny.  Or  if  she 
guessed  that  you  loved  me,  a  married  woman,  —  why  ! 
she's  quite  capable  of  locking  me  up  on  bread  and  water." 

" Gorgeous!  We'll  have  a  real  old-fashioned  romance. 
You  will  climb  out  of  the  window  - 

"She'd  nail  the  jalousies." 

"There  are  no  jalousies  I  can't  unnail  - 

"Oh,  you'd  never  get  past  the  gates.  She'd  post  blacks 
with  guns  at  every  corner  of  the  stone  wall  about  the 
grounds.  You  don't  know  her.  She  doesn't  belong  to 
this  century.  She's  never  brooked  opposition  to  her  will 
since  she  was  born." 

"Those  crude  forthright  persons  are  just  the  ones  that 
can  always  be  outwitted.  She  needn't  know  I'm  here. 
I'll  not  go  to  the  house.  You  can  meet  me  in  a  hundred 
enchanting  nooks  —  down  among  the  palms  on  the  beach, 
in  the  ruins  of  one  of  those  old  estates,  in  a  jungle  I've 
discovered,  with  a  creek,  and  all  sorts  of  tropical  trees  that 
give  more  shade  than  these  feather  dusters  they  call  royal 
palms  - 

"I  won't  leave  my  mother's  house  !" 

"Do  you  mean  that?" 

"Yes." 

"Julia,  you  have  the  longest  and  the  blackest  eyelashes 
I  ever  saw,  and  you  have  never  given  me  such  an  oppor 
tunity  to  admire  them.  But  on  the  whole  I  prefer  your 
eyes.  Look  at  me." 

Julia  raised  her  eyes,  and  Tay  held  his  breath.  They 
were  full  of  tears.  "Oh,  please  go,  Dan,"  she  whispered. 
"I  suffered  death  after  you  left  before.  I  can't,  can't  go 
through  all  that  again.  I  couldn't  stay  here  after  you 
left.  I  never  wanted  to  see  you  again  until  I  could  marry 
you.  I  know  now  why  you  have  come  to  Nevis.  You 
think  that  here,  where  I  spent  my  youth,  where  it  is  diffi 
cult  to  remember  England  and  Suffrage,  I  will  weaken  - 


FANNY  4?I 

that  I  will  go  with  you  to  that  horrid  place  and  get  a  di 
vorce.  It  was  very  clever  of  you,  and  I  might !  Oh,  I 
might!  You  have  been  too  strong  for  me  from  first 'to 
last.  But  I  don't  want  to  !  I  want  to  finish  my  duty,  as  I 
planned.  Please,  please  go.  There  is  a  German  steamer 
in  the  roadstead.  Take  it  and  wait  on  one  of  the  Danish 
islands  for  the  American  steamer  — " 

"Julia,  there  is  only  one  thing  on  earth  I  won't  do  for 
you,  and  that  is  to  leave  you  now.  And  believe  me,  I  had 
no  such  subtle  far-seeing  policy  in  coming  here.  My 
purpose  was  far  simpler.  I'd  marry  you  up  in  Fig  Tree 
Church  to-morrow  if  you  were  free,  but  if  —  as  I  can't,  I'll 
be  content  with  this  brief  romance.  Now  promise  that 
you  will  meet  me  to-morrow  over  in  that  jungle — " 
"I  won't!  I  won't!" 

"Then,  by  God,  I'll  manage  things  myself —  if  I  have  to 
murder  niggers  and  break  in — " 

"Julia!  Julia!"  cried  Fanny's  excited  voice.  "The 
horses  are  shod.  Aunt  Maria  wants  to  go." 

She  was  running  down  the  hall.  As  Tay  rose  she  stopped 
short  and  stared,  her  heavy  lids  lifting. 

Julia  rose  hurriedly.  "  Fanny,  this  is  Mr.  Tay,  an  Ameri 
can  friend  of  mine.  My  niece,  Fanny  Edis." 

'An  American?"  cried  Fanny.  "Another!  Well, 
Nevis  15  waking  up.  Are  you  thinking  of  buying  an 
estate  and  planting?  '  she  asked  eagerly.  "You  don't 
look  as  if  you  had  rheumatism." 

Tay  played  a  bold  hand,  knowing  that  young  girls  like 
romance  even  at  second  hand.  "I  came  to  Nevis  to  see 
Mrs.  France,"  he  said  deliberately.  "We  are  engaged  to 
be  married,  and  she  tells  me  it  will  be  difficult  to  see  her 
in  her  mother's  house.  Suppose  you  lend  me  a  helping 
hand.'  And  he  held  out  his  with  a  charming  smile. 

Fanny  scowled,  and  for  the  moment  looked  more  for 
midable  than  handsome;    then,  with  the  adaptability  of 
youth,  was  suddenly  afire  at  the  prospect  of  a  vicarious 
romance. 
"How  perfectly  glorious!"  she  cried.     "Oh,  I'll  help 


472  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

you,  Mr.  Tay.  Granny '11  never  let  you  in.  But  I'll  hide 
you  in  the  shrubberies.  I'll  throw  you  a  rope  over  the 
wall,  made  of  ancestral  sheets  — 

"Fanny!"  said  Julia,  severely.  "We're  not  characters 
in  an  old-fashioned  novel." 

"Don't  I  wish  we  were!  That's  all  I  could  be.  Oh, 
Mr.  Tay,  don't  give  up." 

"Fanny  !     Do  you  forget  that  my  husband  is  alive?" 

"Oh,  what's  a  lunatic?  Mr.  Tay  just  said  you  were 
engaged,  and  anybody  can  get  a  divorce.  They've  been 
talking  about  it  on  the  terrace." 

"Ah  !"  Julia  made  an  attempt  at  lightness.  "You  are 
not  so  inhospitable  to  these  times,  after  all." 

"I'd  swallow  them  whole.  But  lots  of  kings  and  queens 
were  divorced  ages  ago.  When  you're  in  love  I  don't 
fancy  the  century  makes  any  difference." 

"  Good  !     It  all  comes  back  to  that,  Miss  Edis  ! " 

"When  there's  nothing  else  to  be  considered.  Come, 
Fanny."  She  held  out  her  hand  to  Tay.  "Good-by.  I 
hope  you  will  take  that  German  steamer  - 

"Aunt  Julia  !    Where  is  your  West  Indian  hospitality?" 

"It  must  wait.    Will  you  go?" 

"I  shall  not.     Permit  me  to  see  you  to  your  carriage." 

"I'd  —  I'd  rather  you  stayed  here.  Anyhow,  it's 
good-by."' 

"Good  afternoon,"  said  Tay,  shaking  her  hand  heartily. 

"Good-by." 

"Good  afternoon." 

Julia  turned  her  back  and  walked  up  the  hall,  her  head 
very  high,  and  hoping  she  could  control  the  longing  to  run 
back. 

"You  won't  give  up,  Mr.  Tay?"  asked  Fanny,  eagerly. 

"Never,  Miss  Edis." 

"Oh,  something  is  happening  on  this  old  island  !  And 
what  fun  it'll  be  to  get  ahead  of  Granny.  I'll  help  you. 
Good-by."  She  ran  after  her  aunt,  but  cast  a  rapid 
backward  glance  over  her  shoulder.  English  dukes  and 
European  princes  had  been  the  heroes  of  her  romantic 


FANNY  473 

imaginings,  Americans  standing,  in  her  limited  knowledge 
of  the  outside  world,  for  all  that  was  plebeian  and  strictly 
commercial.  But  she  liked  the  looks  of  this  one.  By 
some  freak  of  fate  he  was  a  gentleman.  And  she  was  to  be 
a  character  in  a  live  romance  ! 


Ill 

THE  terraces,  mercifully,  possibly  tactfully,  were  de 
serted.  Julia  greeted  warmly  the  old  man  who  had  served 
for  so  many  years  as  butler  and  coachman,  then  announced 
curtly  that  she  had  a  headache,  and  kept  her  eyes  closed 
as  the  lean  old  horses  crawled  through  Charles  Town  and 
up  the  mountain.  She  was  still  very  angry  with  Tay,  but, 
on  the  whole,  more  so  with  herself.  Why  hadn't  she  rushed 
into  his  arms  and  been  happy  for  a  few  moments?  And 
what  did  she  really  intend  to  do?  She  had  not  the  least 
idea.  He  had  an  amazing  faculty  for  getting  his  own 
way.  He  would  manage  to  see  her,  and  what  would  be  the 
outcome  ?  Was  there  anything  he  would  stop  at  ?  It  were 
more  than  human  not  to  feel  a  thrill  of  excitement. 

Her  anger  passed,  and  she  wondered  if  she  should  not 
steal  out  and  meet  him  that  very  night.  Why  not? 
WThy  not?  Hadn't  she  her  right  to  live?  She  forgave 
Tay  promptly  for  this  last  and  most  reckless  proof  of  his 
love  for  her.  Lightly  as  he  had  dismissed  the  fact,  she 
knew  that  he  had  made  heavy  sacrifices  in  turning  his 
back  on  California  at  this  critical  moment.  His  party 
might  declare  him  a  traitor  and  cast  him  out.  He  deserved 
his  reward.  All  the  romance  in  her  nature  leaped  into 
sudden  and  vivid  life.  To  her  Nevis  was  the  most  beautiful 
spot  on  earth.  To  live  a  few  intense  weeks  —  what  a 
memory  - 

But  she  opened  her  eyes  as  if  under  the  impact  of  a  cold 
shower.  The  carriage  had  entered  the  grounds  about 
the  house.  Here,  in  these  beautiful  wild  spaces  of  tropic 
tree  and  shrub  and  flaming  color,  France  had  once  fol 
lowed  her  about,  striving  to  kiss  her.  Here  he  had  kissed 
her  the  day  he  had  been  forced  to  leave  her  for  the  ship, 

474 


FA.VVY  47S 

immediately  after  the  marriage  ceremony.  His  menacing 
shadow  seemed  to  detach  itself  as  on  that  awful  night  in 
the  plantation  of  White  Lodge.  Her  life  with  him  rose 
and  overwhelmed  her.  She  sat  up  with  a  gasp.  No 
romance  on  Nevis  for  her ! 

"Are  you  thinkin'  of  the  meetin'  with  your  mother?" 
asked  Mrs.  Winstone.  "Fanny  and  I'll  leave  the  field 
clear.  She's  probably  in  the  living-room." 

Julia  descended  slowly,  and  glanced  through  the  window 
before  entering.  Mrs.  Edis  was  sewing  by  the  lamp  on 
the  table ;  the  tropic  night  had  descended  with  a  rush. 
She  was  a  little  more  bowed  than  formerly,  perhaps  a  trifle 
pallid.  But  her  hair  was  still  almost  black.  Time  might 
have  forgotten  and  passed  her  by. 

As  Julia  opened  the  door,  she  lifted  her  deep  piercing 
eyes,  seized  her  stick,  and  rose  to  her  feet.  Her  hand 
trembled,  but  not  her  voice. 

"I  am  glad  to  see  you,  Julia,"  she  said,  in  her  grand 
manner.  "But  the  steamer  must  have  been  ahead  of 
time." 

She  presented  her  gnarled  cheek  to  be  kissed,  but  Julia, 
who  had  suffered  many  emotions  that  day,  burst  into  tears 
and  flung  herself  into  her  mother's  arms. 

"Oh,  do  say  you  are  glad  to  see  me.  I  am  so  miserable, 
BO  worried.  Oh,  please  do  !" 

Mrs.  Edis  patted  her  head,  but  her  voice  remained  dry. 

"You  have  been  long  coming,  but  you  must  know  how 
glad  I  am  to  see  you  once  more  before  I  die.  Your  trouble 
must  be  grave  indeed  !  You  have  been  in  trouble  before." 

Mrs.  Edis's  tones  would  have  dried  any  fountain.  They 
also  expressed  suspicion.  Julia  took  out  her  pocket-hand 
kerchief. 

"Forgive  me.  It  isn't  worth  speaking  of.  I  am  only 
tired.  Of  course  we  are  all,  we  women,  in  a  sea  of  diffi 
culties —  " 

"Not  a  word  of  that,  if  you  please."  Mrs.  Edis  sat 
down ;  the  glistening  heavy  brows  that  Captain  Dundas 
had  once  compared  to  lizards,  met  over  her  flashing  eyes. 


476  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

"  You  must  make  up  your  mind  not  to  mention  that  dis 
gusting  subject  while  you  are  in  my  house.  If  that  is 
your  trouble,  you  will  have  every  opportunity  to  forget  it! ' 

"I  came  to  forget  everything  but  you  and  Nevis  and 
Fanny.  Now  give  me  another  kiss,  and  I'll  go  and  make 
myself  presentable.  I  don't  want  you  to  find  me  too 
much  changed." 

"  Maria  told  me  that  you  had  changed  very  little,  and 
I  thought  you  looked  quite  pretty  before  you  reddened  your 
eyes.  Run  along  and  I  will  order  dinner." 

At  the  table  Mrs.  Edis  betrayed  a  little  of  the  joy  she 
felt  at  the  return  of  her  prodigal,  by  talking  far  more  than 
her  wont.  She  told  Julia  the  gossip  of  the  islands,  mostly 
mortuary,  as  all  the  old  women  of  her  own  generation  had 
died;  but  although  she  anathematized  Bath  House  and 
the  idle  rheumatics  it  would  bring  to  Nevis,  she  permitted 
herself  to  express  hope  regarding  the  future  of  the  islands. 
She  went  to  her  room  immediately  after  the  meal  finished, 
but  it  was  long  before  Julia  could  enjoy  the  seclusion  of 
her  own.  Fanny,  who  barely  opened  her  mouth  before 
her  grandmother,  burst  into  speech  the  moment  that  august 
presence  was  withdrawn,  and  Julia  for  quite  three  hours 
was  obliged  to  answer  her  questions  regarding  the  great 
world  of  London,  when  not  sympathizing  with  the  dynamic 
maiden's  hatred  of  life  on  Nevis. 

"Good  heaven!"  she  thought.  "That  I  ever  could 
have  imagined  a  girl  of  eighteen  interesting  ! ' 

She  locked  herself  in  her  own  room  at  last,  but  not  to 
sleep.  Her  homecoming  had  proved  a  bitter  disappoint 
ment.  Fanny  she  might  have  forgiven,  for  all  girls  were 
more  or  less  alike,  wrapped  up  in  themselves,  happy  in  the 
delusion  of  their  supreme  importance.  But  her  mother  ! 
She  had  always  remembered  her  as  the  most  wonderful  of 
her  sex,  a  tower  of  strength,  no  matter  how  hard,  a  super- 
woman  isolated  on  a  rock  in  the  Caribbean  Sea.  What 
was  she,  after  all,  but  an  obstinate  old  woman?  Was 
she  to  find  strength  in  no  one  but  herself  ?  WTell,  why  not  ? 
Hadn't  it  Keen  her  cherished  ideal  to  stand  alone  ? 


FANNY  477 

But  what,  in  heaven's  name,  was  she  to  do  with  Tay? 

The  rooms  opened  upon  a  corridor,  but  her  window  was 
only  a  few  feet  above  the  large  garden  in  front  of  the  house. 
She  unlatched  the  jalousie  and  sprang  to  the  ground. 
Here  she  could  decide  his  fate  without  sentiment,  for  here 
was  the  shadow  of  France.  But  the  shadow  had  departed 
and  ignored  her  summons.  The  renaissance  of  old  impres 
sions  is  fleeting.  It  rarely  comes  twice,  and  never  at 
command.  And  Nevis  and  all  things  on  it  were  changed  ! 
Only  one  of  the  old  servants,  Denny,  was  alive.  She  had 
visited  the  outbuildings  before  dinner,  eager  for  familiar 
faces.  The  girls  of  her  youth  were  fat  old  women.  There 
were  many  of  them,  and  the  pic'nies  swarmed  as  of  yore. 
The  court,  no  doubt,  was  still  full  of  color  by  day,  but  every 
thing  was  orderly  and  clean ;  there  were  few  of  the  old 
evidences  of  congenital  laziness.  Fanny,  for  all  her  romantic 
notions,  was  an  admirable  overseer  —  and  a  tyrant.  Since 
this  duty  had  been  thrust  upon  her  by  her  inexorable  grand 
parent,  she  would  use  it  as  an  outlet  for  her  energies ;  and 
Julia  suspected  that  she  found  a  decided  gratification  in 
ruling  her  subjects  with  an  iron  hand. 

The  white  cloud  on  Nevis  had  slipped  down  the  moun 
tain,  enveloping  it  in  a  fine  white  mist.  The  garden  was 
full  of  enchanting  shapes,  of  heavy  intoxicating  odors. 
Where  was  Tay?  Why  had  he  not  come  to  shake  her 
jalousie?  She  longed  to  find  him  hiding  under  one  of  the 
heavy  trees.  But  he  was  probably  asleep  at  Bath  House ; 
and  his  temporary  quiescence  inspired  her  reason  with 
gratitude.  For  the  first  time  she  feared  him.  He  had  come 
to  Nevis  for  no  such  indefinite  object  as  an  episodical 
romance.  He  meant  to  take  her  with  him  when  he  left, 
possibly  to  forge  the  strongest  of  all  bonds  in  the  earlier 
phases  of  love.  This  thought  made  her  angry  once  more, 
roused  the  subtle  antagonism  of  sex.  If  it  came  to  an  actual 
contest  of  strength,  here  was  her  chance  to  prove  to  him 
what  the  years  and  much  else  had  made  of  her. 

She  went  to  bed,  and  her  thoughts  turned  contritely  to 
Fanny.  Was  she  really  disappointed  in  this  girl  who 


478  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

seemed  to  be  the  embodiment  of  soulless,  unimaginative, 
brutal  youth  ?  Or  might  not  she  still  find  her  so  interest 
ing  as  a  study,  and  companion,  that  the  old  fond  image 
would  be  undeplored?  The  last,  no  doubt.  She  had 
been  just  as  soulless,  and  her  true  imagination  as  un- 
a wakened.  She  went  to  sleep  determined  to  love  Fanny 
whatever  befell. 


IV 

SHE  slept  until  late  in  the  day,  Mrs.  Edis  having  given 
orders  that  she  should  not  be  disturbed.  Otherwise  the 
routine  of  Great  House  was  not  altered.  Fanny  took  her 
daily  ride  over  the  estate.  Mrs.  Edis  sat  in  her  chair  in 
the  living-room,  making  a  feint  of  sewing,  in  reality  listen 
ing  for  Julia's  footfalls.  So  she  had  sat  listening  for  six 
teen  years. 

But  it  was  a  lagging,  almost  elderly  step  that  she  finally 
heard  approaching  along  the  terrace  at  the  back  of  the 
house.  A  moment  later  Mrs.  Winstone  entered,  flushed, 
damp,  but  with  her  eyes  full  of  malicious  amusement. 

"Really,  Jane,"  she  drawled,  "the  tropics  were  never 
made  for  walkin'.  I  believe  I'll  keep  my  new  waist  line  — " 

"Not  a  bad  idea  to  keep  what  little  Nature  is  still  willing 
to  give  you."  Mrs.  Edis's  voice  was  as  sarcastic  as  her 
eyes.  "I  hope  there  was  no  bad  news  in  your  note?" 

"Note?"  Mrs.  Winstone  turned  her  back  and  began  to 
rearrange  the  flowers  on  the  bookcase. 

"  Do  you  fancy  the  least  event  could  happen  in  this 
house  without  my  knowledge?" 

"Really,  it  was  so  unimportant  I  had  forgotten  it. 
Merely  an  invitation  to  Bath  House.  That  reminds  me  - 
She  adopted  her  airiest  tones.  "Have  I  spoken  to  you  of 
Mrs.  Morison?  Charmin'  little  woman  stoppin'  at  Bath 
House.  I  met  her  drivin'  just  now,  and  impulsively  asked 
her  to  come  to  tea  to-day,  and  bring  the  others.  How 
naughty  of  me.  I  should  have  consulted  you  first." 

"Your  friends  are  welcome  to  tea.     I  am  not  a  pauper." 

"But  such  a  hermit  !  It  is  too  kind  of  you  to  take  me 
in.  I  don't  fancy  botherin'  you  with  my  friends." 

"  How  is  it  you  were  not  carried  away  by  impulse  before  ?  " 

"I  came  to  Nevis  to  see  you  and  to  rest.    I  see  enough 

479 


48o  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

of  Hannah  and  Pirie  in  London.  But  now  that  Mrs. 
Morison  has  come  to  Bath  House,  and  her  brother,  Daniel 
Tay- 

Mrs.  Edis  lifted  her  head  as  if  she  scented  powder.  "A 
man?  Is  he  married?" 

Mrs.  Winstone  smiled  significantly.     "Oh,  dear  me,  no  !" 

" How  old  is  he?" 

"About  thirty." 

"I'll  have  no  young  man  in  this  house." 

"Oh,  he  wouldn't  look  at  Fanny.  Hates  girls.  He's  a 
very  dear,  a  very  particular  friend  of  mine." 

Mrs.  Edis  laid  her  work  on  the  table,  dropped  her 
spectacles  to  the  end  of  her  nose,  and  surveyed  the  smart 
figure  with  the  developing  waist  line.  "And  what  are  you 
doing  with  very  dear  and  particular  friends  of  that  sex  at 
your  time  of  life?" 

"Dear  Jane!"  said  Mrs.  Winstone,  with  asperity,  and 
transferring  her  attention  to  the  early  Victorian  tidies. 
"Please  remember  that  if  you  live  out  of  the  world  I  live 
in  it.  Oh,  la  !  la  !  Come  over  to  London  and  see  the 
procession  of  hansoms  in  Bond  Street  containin'  smart 
gray-haired  women  and  nice  boys.  The  gray  hairs  are 
generally  payin'  for  the  hansoms,  and  more.  I  never  had 
a  gray  hair,  and  my  rich  American  friend  always  pays  for 
the  hansoms,  and  more.  Why  shouldn't  I  have  a  youngish 
beau  if  I  can  get  one?  But  really,  I  didn't  think  he'd 
follow  me  here  !" 

"Disgusting!"  announced  Mrs.  Edis,  who  looked  as  if 
she  had  just  entered  a  room  in  the  Paris  salon  devoted  to 
the  nude.  "In  my  time - 

"Ah,  dear  Jane,  that  time  is  forever  gone.  You  couldn't 
get  a  bonnet  in  all  Bond  Street  to  suit  your  years.  Hannah 
Macmanus,  who  poses  as  an  old  woman,  has  to  have  hers 
made  at  a  little  shop  in  Bloomsbury." 

"I  can  well  believe  it!  I  could  see  what  London  was 
coming  to  sixty  years  ago.  Enamelled  old  women  - 

"Oh,  la!  la!  Prehistoric!  Filthy  habit !  To-day  we 
keep  our  skins  clean." 


FAN  XV  481 

"Do  sit  down.  You  are  flouncing  about  like  a  sylph  of 
twenty.  I  hope  you  have  not  permitted  yourself  to  become 
seriously  interested  in  this  young  man." 

Mrs.  Winstone  dropped  into  a  chair  on  the  other  side  of 
the  table  and  looked  across  the  work-basket  with  airy  self- 
consciousness. 

"Why  not?" 

"You  are  an  old  fool,  and  he  must  be  a  young  one." 

"  Not  a  bit  of  it.  Level-headed  business  man.  Rich  and 
strenuous." 

"Strenuous?" 

"New  word.  American.  Means  a  short  life  for  yourself 
and  a  merry  one  for  your  heirs." 

"Be  good  enough  to  confine  yourself  to  English.  Are 
you  going  to  marry  this  youth  and  make  a  laughing-stock 
of  yourself  and  your  family  ?" 

"  Marry  ?  Oh,  how  tiresome  of  you  to  be  so  serious.  I'd 
managed  him  so  well !  I  never  thought  he  would  follow  me 
here  when  I  need  a  rest.  But  he's  romantic  — " 

"Romantic?  He  must  be  if  he's  in  love  with  you. 
Really,  Maria,  I  never  even  look  at  you  that  I  don't  feel 
like  giving  thanks  I  have  been  permitted  to  spend  my  life 
on  Nevis." 

Mrs.  Winstone  fetched  a  little  sigh.  "But  you  don't 
mind  my  askin'  these  people  to  tea?" 

"  It  is  a  long  time  since  a  stranger  has  crossed  my  thresh 
old.  Still,  they  are  welcome.  This  is  your  birthplace  as 
well  as  mine." 

"  How  sweet  of  you  !  I'll  go  and  smarten  up  a  bit."  As 
she  was  leaving  the  room  she  turned,  knit  her  brows,  and 
said  hesitatingly,  "Better  not  tell  Julia  they're  comin'. 
She  left  London  because  she  was  sick  of  people,  and  has 
really  come  for  a  rest.  She  might  run  away,  and  Mrs. 
Morison  is  dyin'  to  meet  her.  Americans  are  quite  mad 
about  celebrities." 

"Oh,  very  well,"  said  Mrs.  Edis,  impatiently. 

She  sewed  for  half  an  hour  longer.  Suddenly  her  eyes 
flashed  and  she  lifted  her  head.  But  when  Julia  came  in 
she  said  formally:  — 

2  I 


482  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  I  HER  TIMES 

"Good  morning.     Do  you  always  sleep  until  noon?" 

"Rather  not !  But  I  didn't  go  to  sleep  till  nearly  dawn, 
I  was  so  excited.  I  shall  get  up  every  morning  at  five  and 
take  that  old  walk  round  the  cone.  How  often  I  have 
thought  of  it." 

"You  have  been  long  coming  to  take  it." 

Julia  seated  herself  on  the  arm  of  her  mother's  chair,  and 
took  the  work  out  of  her  hand.  "Now,"  she  said,  "let's 
have  it  out.  You  are  angry  with  me  for  staying  away  for 
sixteen  years,  among  other  things,  and  I  have  been  very 
angry  with  you.  But  all  my  childish  resentment  was  over 
long  ago.  It  is  time  you  forgave  me.  If  I  stayed  away,  it 
was  because  you  never  asked  me  to  come.  Since  the  day 
the  duke  married,  you  have  written  me  nothing  but  formal 
notes,  except  when  you  were  angry  with  me  for  some  new 
cause.  You  have  hurt  me  more  than  I  can  have  hurt  you, 
and  I  have  resented  your  injustice.  But  let  us  bury  it  all. 
If  you  knew  how  glad  I  am  to  be  here  again,  to  see  you  look 
just  the  same  !  If  you  would  only  be  your  old  self,  I  could 
feel  your  little  girl  once  more.  The  past  —  much  of  it  - 
seems  like  a  dream  — 

Mrs.  Edis  threw  back  her  head.  Her  heavy  nostrils 
dilated.  She  looked  like  an  old  war-horse.  She  raised  her 
stick  and  brought  it  down  on  the  hard  floor  with  a  resound 
ing  thump.  "Yes!"  she  said  harshly.  "Let  us  have  it 
out.  Let  me  tell  you  that  I  have  sat  here  for  ten  of  those 
years  waiting  to  acknowledge  that  I  have  been  tortured 
by  remorse.  I  could  not  bring  myself  to  write  it.  But  I 
never  thought  you  would  stay  away  so  long  —  You  !  — 
and  I  an  old  old  woman  !" 

Julia  had  moved  away  uneasily  at  this  outburst.  "Oh, 
don't !  —  never  mind  —  it  was  a  natural  enough  mistake 
on  your  part.  Let  us  never  speak  of  it  again.  I  should 
have  come  long  ago  —  but  time  passes  so  quickly  —  I  don't 
think  I  realized  —  and  then  I  thought  you  had  given  all 
your  love  to  Fanny  - 

"Fanny?"  with  indescribable  scorn. 

"Oh,  I  see  now  you  don't  care  for  her — " 


FANNY  483 

"Let  me  finish.  I  am  a  hard  old  woman.  Demonstra 
tions  are  not  for  me.  Nor  is  my  pride  dead.  That  will  sur 
vive  life  itself.  But  I  will  tell  you  that  I  have  never  ceased 
to  love  you  —  I  think  I  have  never  loved  any  one  else. 
Your  first  petulent  childish  letters  —  I  didn't  choose  to  be 
lieve.  But  later,  when  I  began  to  hear  those  vague  terrible 
rumors  -  My  God  !  Well,  you  had  the  world,  and  youth, 
and  diversions  —  but  I  have  sat  here  and  thought,  and 
thought,  and  longed  for  death  - 

"Oh,  please  !  It  has  all  been  for  the  best.  I  needed  a 
hard  school.  You  know  what  a  child  I  was.  If  life  had 
been  too  kind  to  me,  I  should  have  developed  slowly,  if  at 
all.  I  might  have  nothing  but  a  cauliflower  in  my  brain 
to-day.  Now,  you  would  be  proud  of  me  if  you  would  only 
let  me  explain  this  great  work  to  you,  make  you  see  what 
it  means  - 

"Not  an  allusion  to  that !  You,  who  were  born  to  be  a 
duchess.  Ah  !  Let  me  confess  that  it  is  not  remorse  alone 
that  has  made  me  a  desolate  old  woman  all  these  years. 
My  old  belief  survived  the  marriage  of  the  duke,  even  the 
birth  of  his  heir  —  at  least,  I  clung  to  it.  But  when  your 
husband  went  hopelessly  insane  -  Oh,  my  old  belief !  It 
had  been  companion,  friend,  consolation  —  as  satisfying  as 
only  a  science  can  be.  When  my  faith  in  that  was  de 
stroyed  - 

"Ah!  If  you  would  only  let  me  tell  you  something  !  I 
met  far  wiser  men  in  the  East  than  old  M'sieu.  They 
placed  a  very  different  interpretation  on  my  horoscope  — " 

"What?" 

"Why,  can't  you  see  —  what  I  have  become  in  England 
-  what  I  may  still  become  -  Oh,  far,  far  more  1" 

Mrs.  Edis  snorted  in  her  wrath  and  disgust  as  she  rose 
to  her  feet  and  thumped  the  floor  with  her  stick.  "Gam 
mon  !  Do  you  expect  me  to  believe  that  that  is  what  the 
world  has  come  to?  Fighting  and  scratching  policemen, 
going  to  gaol,  speaking  on  a  public  platform  !  Has  that 
become  the  substitute  for  a  great  English  lady?" 

"Oh,  let  us  say  no  more  about  it.     I  recognize  it  is  hope- 


484  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

less.  If  you  still  believe  that  a  woman's  highest  destiny 
is  to  be  an  English  duchess  -  Do  sit  down.  There  is 
so  much  else  to  talk  about." 

Mrs.  Edis  resumed  her  seat,  but  still  frowning.  She  had 
quite  forgotten  her  remorse. 

"I  want  to  talk  about  poor  little  Fanny — " 

"Poor  little  Fanny?" 

"Who  has  the  best  memory  in  the  world  ?  Who  was  the 
belle  of  the  West  Indies  in  her  day  ?  I  have  an  idea  that 
Fanny  looks  exactly  as  you  did  at  her  age.  And  she  is 
not  too  unlike  you  in  other  things  - 

"Arrant  nonsense.     What  are  you  driving  at  ? " 

"I  mean  that  youth  has  its  rights,  and  you  are  depriving 
Fanny  of  hers." 

"I  have  replanted  the  entire  estate  and  built  a  mill. 
Fanny  will  be  rich  one  day.  I  can't  abide  the  minx,  but 
I  know  my  duty  to  my  son's  child,  and  the  last  of  my 


race." 


"So  that  is  to  be  Fanny's  fate?  A  little  West  Indian 
planter  !  When  she  dreams  of  nothing  but  love  and  mar 
riage - 

"She  knows  naught  of  such  things." 

"Oh,  doesn't  she?  And  what  of  instincts,  especially 
when  a  girl  is  beautiful  and  fairly  bursting  with  vitality?" 

"She  can  consume  her  vitality  in  hard  work.  Youth  and 
beauty  soon  pass.  Hers  will  go  before  they  have  given  any 
man  the  chance  to  ruin  her  life.  In  her  lies  my  opportunity 
for  atonement  — " 

"Fanny  will  marry.  That  is  her  obvious  destiny. 
What  is  more,  she  will  marry  the  first  man  that  asks  her, 
unless  she  has  the  diversion  of  society  and  many  admirers. 
Ba  th  House  is  open  again.  Many  young  men  will  come  - 

"Fanny  will  see  none  of  them  !" 

"Oh,  won't  she?  Youth  has  a  magnet  all  its  own. 
They'll  be  prowling  round  the  place,  sitting  on  the  wall  like 
tomcats!" 

"Is  that  a  sample  of  the  new  school  of  conversation  ?" 

"No,  but  it  expresses  a  fact.     Now,  do  be  sweet  and 


FANNY  485 

reasonable  and  let  Fanny  go  to  the  party  at  Bath  House 
on  Thursday  night  - 

"Not  another  word.  Fanny  goes  to  no  parties,  neither 
at  Bath  House  nor  elsewhere.  Have  you  quite  forgotten 
me,  that  you  fancy  you  can  change  my  mind  when  it  is 
made  up?  There  is  the  luncheon  gong.  Will  you  give 
me  your  arm?" 


"WELL,"  said  Fanny,  "I  saw  you  having  a  talk  with 
Granny  in  here  this  morning.  I  suppose  she  has  promised 
I  shall  go  to  London  and  live  like  other  girls.  That  would 
be  so  like  her,  —  such  a  sweet  creature  — " 

"Sh— sh- 

"  Oh,  why  not  say  what  you  think  ?  I'd  like  to  hear  your 
real  opinion  of  her  —  after  all  these  years." 

"She  is  my  mother;  and  she  was  angelic  to  me  this 
morning." 

Fanny  stared,  then  burst  into  laughter.  "Angelic! 
How  I  should  like  to  have  seen  Granny  do  it.  Did  you  ask 
her  if  I  could  go  to  the  party  at  Bath  House?" 

"She  is  opposed  to  it,"  said  Julia,  evasively,  "but  I  think 
I  can  talk  her  over.  One  would  never  expect  to  get  the  best 
of  mother  in  the  first  round.  I  must  tell  you,  however, 
that  I  shall  not  go  to  Bath  House  myself  - 

"Oh,  that  Mr.  Tay  !  Only  it  is  romantic,  and  he  is 
handsome,  and  quite  nice.  Do  tell  me,  Julia,"  she  asked 
eagerly,  "what  is  it  like  to  be  in  love  with  a  real  man  ?" 

"Put  such  thoughts  out  of  your  head  for  the  present." 

"Did  he  ever  kiss  you  ?" 

"Have  you  looked  over  my  evening  gowns?  Collins  is 
quite  excited  at  the  prospect  of  fussing  with  them." 

"How  heavenly  !  I'll  go  this  minute  !  What  on  earth 
is  the  matter  with  Denny  ?  He  looks  as  if  he'd  just  heard 
the  guns  at  the  fort  announcing  a  hurricane." 

The  old  man  almost  staggered  in.  His  expression  was 
quite  wild. 

"Lor's  sake,  Missy,"  he  gasped.     "A  visitor  !    A  man  !" 

Fanny  snatched  the  card. 

"Julia  !"  she  cried,  more  excited  than  Denny.  "It's  he  ! 
It's  Mr.  Tay!" 

Julia  turned  her  face  away  and  walked  with  great  dig- 

486 


FANNY  487 

nity  to  the  opposite  door.     "Tell  him  that  he  must  excuse 
me,"  she  said  over  her  shoulder. 

"He  ask  for  Mis'  Winstone,  Mis'  Julia." 

"For  whom?" 

"He  say  she  ask  him  for  tea." 

"She  must  be  quite  mad.  Well,  go  and  find  her."  And 
she  hastened  to  her  room,  determined  to  punish  Tay  for 
coming,  but  not  so  sure  she  should  npt  waylay  him  in  the 
garden  when  he  left. 

"Denny,"  said  Fanny,  "ask  him  to  come  in  here.  And 
you  need  not  disturb  my  aunt  at  present.  She  is  taking 
her  nap." 

"Yes,  Missy."     And  Denny  went  off,  shaking  his  head. 

Fanny  ran  over  to  a  glass  and  smoothed  her  hair,  put  a 
flower  in  it,  and  made  an  attempt  to  stiffen  her  figure  until 
it  looked  as  if  incased  in  stays.  But  when  Tay  entered 
she  immediately  became  as  natural  as  the  young  female 
ever  is  in  the  presence  of  the  young  and  marriageable  male. 
Tay  did  not  look  in  the  best  of  tempers,  but  she  thought  him 
quite  handsome  enough  to  be  the  hero  of  a  romance. 

"Do  sit  down,"  she  said  hospitably.  "Aunt  Maria  will 
be  in  presently.  Oh,  do  tell  me  how  you  got  in.  I  mean, 
what  can  Aunt  Maria  have  told  Granny  -  Or  hasn't  she 
told  her?  Perhaps  I'd  better  take  you  out  for  a  walk. 
Granny  might  be  too  horrid." 

"I  fancy  Mrs.  Winstone  has  told  your  grandmother  that 
she  asked  me  for  tea,"  said  Tay,  with  a  slight  access  of  color. 

"But  what?" 

"Oh  -  Are  not  you  too  afraid  of  this  —  of  your  formi 
dable  grandmother?" 

"Not  a  bit.  I  only  pretend  to  be  for  the  sake  of  peace. 
But,  oh,  do  tell  me  how  Aunt  Maria  had  the  courage  to  ask 
you  here  !  I'm  simply  mad  with  curiosity.  A  young  man 
in  this  house  !" 

Tay  drew  a  long  breath.  This  was  an  explanation  he 
had  not  bargained  for,  and  those  immense  eyes  were  dis 
concertingly  young,  and  very  handsome.  "Well,  you  see 
—  this  is  how  it  is :  I  came  here,  neglected  business  and  a 


488  JULIA  FRANCE  AND  HER  TIMES 

good  many  other  things,  to  see  Julia  France,  and  I  have  no 
idea  of  wasting  my  time.  I  don't  like  underhand  methods. 
I'd  rather  fight  in  the  open  any  time,  but  with  women  you 
almost  never  can.  So  let  us  call  this  strategy  - 

"Yes!  Yes!"  cried  Fanny.  "But  for  heaven's  sake, 
what  is  it?" 

"We  had  a  conference  last  night  at  the  hotel."  Tay  got 
up  and  walked  about  the  room. 

"Oh,  do  go  on." 

"Well,  briefly,  we  hatched  a  plot.  Mrs.  Winstone  was 
to  be  induced  to  tell  your  grandmother  that  she  and  I  are 
engaged  - 

"What?" 

"Ah  — yes." 

"You  and  Aunt  Maria  !"  She  succeeded  in  taking  it  in, 
then  went  off  into  shrieks  of  laughter.  Tay  swore  under 
his  breath,  and  looked  out  of  the  window. 

"You  and  Aunt  Maria  !  I  never  heard  of  anything  so 
funny  in  all  my  life.  Why  on  earth  didn't  you  pretend  to 
have  fallen  in  love  with  me?  That  would  have  fooled 
everybody,  and  I  should  have  loved  to  take  you  out  for 
long  walks  —  and  turn  you  over  to  Julia  ! ' 

"You  forget  that  a  man  doesn't  care  to  place  a  girl  in  a 
false  position  - 

"But  Aunt  Maria  never  can  have  made  Granny  be 
lieve  - 

"Why  not?  Half  the  women  in  London  have  admirers 
young  enough  to  be  their  sons,  and  sometimes  they  marry 
them.  Your  aunt  could  have  one  of  those  brats  dangling 
if  she  chose.  It's  not  my  role,  but  I  can  play  it  at  a  pinch." 
He  returned  to  his  chair.  "Do  you  think  I  can  see  Julia 
to-day?" 

"She  ran  away  when  she  heard  you  were  here." 

"Oh,  did  she?" 

"I  don't  think  she  means  to  see  you.  That  would  be 
horrid  of  her.  But  you  come  here  every  day  —  to  see  Aunt 
Maria  !  —  and  I'll  manage  it.  And  if  you^  always  come 
when  Granny's  asleep,  you  can  talk  to  me." 


FAX  XV  489 

"That  would  be  ample  compensation,"  said  Tay,  me 
chanically.  He  was  feeling  very  cross,  and  it  was  long  since 
callow  girlhood  had  appealed  to  him.  Still,  this  child  was 
beautiful,  and  beauty  exacts  tribute  at  any  age.  He  told 
himself  that  he  was  a  surly  brute,  and  exerted  himself  to  be 
agreeable. 

"You  must  find  this  a  lonely  life,"  he  observed.  " What 
do  you  do  with  yourself?  Read  novels?  Go  over  to 
parties  on  St.  Kitts?" 

"Novels  !  Parties  !  I've  read  about  ten,  and  I've  never 
been  to  a  party  in  my  life.  You  are  the  first  young  man 
I've  ever  talked  to." 

"Really?"  Tay  was  mildly  interested.  "What  a  life 
for  a  young  girl.  I've  never  seen  any  one  look  less  like  a 
hermit.  What  do  you  do  with  yourself?" 

"Oh,  Granny  put  me  in  charge  of  the  estate  a  year  ago. 
She's  too  old  to  go  out  much,  and  she  drilled  me  until  I 
thought  I'd  go  off  my  head.  But  now  I  rather  like  it. 
There's  something  to  do,  anyhow,  riding  over  the  estate 
every  morning,  keeping  the  mill  overseer  from  cheating, 
and  getting  work  out  of  lazy  blacks.  I  can  do  that,  and  in 
a  way  it's  like  having  a  little  kingdom  all  your  own.  I've 
made  them  all  afraid  of  me." 

"Have  you  ?  By  George,  you  are  some  girl !  I  thought 
you  were  merely  out  for  fun.  I'd  be  put  to  it  to  find  an 
other  girl  of  your  age  —  and  —  and  —  general  style  —  who 
was  running  an  estate.  It  seems  to  be  a  remarkable  family, 
altogether." 

Fanny  saw  that  she  had  now  really  caught  his  attention, 
and  found  him  more  attractive  every  moment.  The  sub 
ject  of  her  prosaic  duties  had  never  entered  her  imaginary 
conversations  with  young  men,  but  this  one  was  quite 
different  himself  from  any  of  her  dreams ;  and  she  suddenly 
found  reality  far  more  attractive  than  romance.  She 
was  also  quick  to  take  a  cue,  and  was  about  to  launch 
upon  a  description  of  plantation  life  in  the  West  Indie-. 
when  Denny  came  running  in,  this  time  looking  fairly  dis 
tracted. 


490  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"Lots  of  visitors,  Missy  !" 

"I  should  have  told  you  that  Mrs.  Winstone  asked  the 
rest  of  our  party,"  said  Tay. 

Fanny  forgot  him  in  her  fright,  as  Mrs.  Macmanus,  Mr. 
Pirie,  and  the  Morisons  entered.  But  her  instincts  as 
serted  themselves,  and  she  went  through  the  ordeal  very 
creditably.  , 

"Why,  how  do  you  do?"  she  said  hospitably.  Im 
so  glad  to  see  you  all  in  our  house.  Please  sit  down. 
Denny,  go  and  tell  Mrs.  Winstone.  Ah  —  won't  you  take 
off  your  hats?" 

"No,  thank  you,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Morison,  whose  eyes 
were  brimming  with  mischief.  "Mine  is  so  becoming. 
Besides,  a  lot  of  hair  would  come  off,  too." 

"I  will,"  said  Mrs.  Macmanus,." and  thank  you  for  ask 
ing  me.  Reminds  me  of  my  youth."  And  she  removed 
her  bonnet  and  rolled  up  the  strings.  "Even  one's  hair  is 
too  warm  for  the  tropics.  Pirie,  you  might  take  off  your 
toupee.  I've  seen  you  do  it  twice  when  you  thought  no 
one  was  looking!" 

"Really,  Hannah  !"  Pirie  almost  exploded.  What  an 
assault  in  the  presence  of  glorious  eighteen  ! 

But  Fanny  was  paying  no  attention  to  Pirie.  She  was 
gazing  in  rapt  admiration  at  Mrs.  Morison's  airy  toilette 
of  daffodil  yellow,  with  a  large  chiffon  hat  of  the  same  shade, 
covered  with  more  little  soft  feathers  than  she  had  ever  seen 
before,  and  a  perfectly  useless,  but  all  the  more  enviable, 
sunshade  of  chiffon  and  lace. 

Mrs.  Morison  saw  the  admiration  in  the  girl's  eyes,  and 
no  admiration  was  thrown  away  on  her.  She  smiled  brill- 

4  "How  simply  enchanting  to  see  the  inside  of  an  old  West 
Indian  home,"  she  exclaimed.  "I  never  had  any  old-fash 
ioned  things  in  my  life.  Grandpa  emigrated  to  California 
in  the  fifties,  and  every  house  he  built  burned  down  when 
ever  the  city  did.  So  when  I  came  along  and  pa  was  making 
his  pile,  there  wasn't  so  much  as  a  daguerrotype  in  the 
family.  We  were  just  upholstered  from  New  York  and 


FANNY  491 

dressed  from  Paris.     How's  that  for  family  history,  Miss 
Edis?" 

"Oh,"  said  Fanny,  through  her  teeth,  "how  I  should  like 
to  live  in  a  country  where  there  were  no  ancestors.  There's 
nothing  else  here." 

Morison  was  also  beaming  upon  her.  "You  must  come 
and  visit  us  in  New  York,"  he  said.  "We're  imitating 
England  and  becoming  too  democratic  to  talk  about  ances 
tors,  even  when  we've  got  'em,  and  we  usually  haven't." 

"Why,  Nolly,"  cried  Emily,  who  was  Californian  when 
she  wanted  to  be  audacious,  but  valued  her  New  York  to 
its  ultimate  vanishing  drop  of  azure  blood,  "you  know 
your  mother  was  a  - 

"  Pauper.  She  hooked  my  father,  which  is  more  to  the 
point,  and  I'm  in  the  race  for  Millionnaire  Street,  which  is 
the  whole  point." 

"Oh,  you  little  bleating  Wall  Street  Calf !  Such  a  little 
one,  too,  Miss  Edis." 

"  I  might  be  a  bigger  one  if  you  spent  less.  What  are  we 
here  for,  anyhow?"  he  asked,  as  Fanny,  apprehending  a 
domestic  scene,  moved  away.  "Dan  can  take  care  of  his 
own  affairs,  and  I  feel  as  if  I  were  on  a  ship  in  midocean 
with  the  wireless  out  of  order." 

"What  man  ever  could  manage  his  own  affairs?  It 
would  have  been  cruel  to  let  Dan  come  alone,  and  I  know 
I  can  help  him  out.  We  mustn't  scrap  and  frighten  Mrs. 
France,  or  she'll  think  the  temper  is  in  the  Tay  family, 
whereas  it's  always  your  fault  - 

But  she  laughed  good-naturedly,  extracting  the  sting,  and 
Morison,  who  never  quite  understood  her,  was  mollified 
and  shrugged  his  shoulders.  "Well,  I'm  going  to  flirt  with 
that  little  West  Indian  girl  who  doesn't  know  the  first  thing 
about  life  and  wants  to  know  it  all  in  five  minutes.  Great 
fun.  Serve  you  right,  too,  for  bringing  me  here." 

"  Run  along,"  said  his  wife,  indulgently,  and  he  joined 
Fanny,  who  was  talking  to  Tay,  and  told  her  that  the  St. 
Kitts  girls  were  coming  to  the  party  on  Thursday  night.  But 
Fanny  had  lost  all  interest  in  the  married  man  now  that  a 


492  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

single  one  had  appeared,  and  gave  him  her  shoulder  with  a 
young  girl's  brutality.  A  moment  later,  when  Mrs.  Win- 
stone  entered,  she  deliberately  drew  Tay  into  the  embrasure 
of  one  of  the  windows.  She  had  curled  her  lip  at  her  grand- 
aunt's  appearance,  but  the  rest  applauded,  and  Mrs.  Win- 
stone  was  secretly  delighted  with  herself.  She  had  aban 
doned  her  usual  discretion  and  got  herself  up  like  a  woman 
of  thirty.  There  was  rouge  on  her  cheeks,  a  flower  in  her 
youthfully  dressed  hair,  and  a  pink  chiffon  scarf  floated  over 
her  white  gown. 

"Good!  Good!"  cried  Mrs.  Macmanus.  "How  does 
it  work?" 

"Oh,  quite  all  right.  Only  I  was  made  to  feel  as  if  I  had 
escaped  from  the  mummy  room  in  the  British  Museum  and 
stolen  my  grandniece's  clothes." 

"Upon  my  word,  Maria,"  said  Pirie,  gallantly,  "I  didn't 
know  you  could  do  it.  Ten  to  one  Tay  does  fall  in  love 
with  you.  Why  not?  Julia's  got  a  bee  in  her  bonnet. 
We  men  don't  like  bees  as  domestic  pets.  They  sting." 

"Curious  that  even  the  young  men  are  as  old-fashioned 
as  ever,  while  the  women  go  marching  on,"  said  Mrs. 
Macmanus,  unrolling  her  knitting.  "What  will  you  all  do 
for  partners,  by  and  by  ?" 

"Oh,  we'll  still  marry  them,"  said  Mrs.  Morison,  patron 
izingly.  "They  give  us  our  little  romance,  and  it's  no  part 
of  our  policy  to  let  the  race  die  out." 

"Hear!  Hear!"  cried  Mrs.  Macmanus,  looking  over 
her  eye-glasses.  "So  you,  too,  are  a  suffragette.  You 
never  gave  us  a  hint." 

"I  forgot  about  it  down  here.  But  last  winter  in  New 
York,  everybody  who  was  anybody,  or  wanted  to  be,  went 
in  for  it.  Two  or  three  of  the  rich  and  fashionable  women 
whose  names  are  regular  electric  signs  —  designed  by  the 
press  —  great  gilt  way  —  took  it  up,  and  all  the  rank  out 
siders  fairly  fell  over  themselves  to  get  into  the  new  Suffrage 
societies,  and  shake  hands  with  those  Brunhildes  come  down 
off  their  fire-girt  perch.  Makes  me  sick.  I  believe  in  it 
because  I  know  it's  coming." 


FAX  XV  493 

"Ha  !  Ha  !"  cried  Pirie.  "A  good  patriot  always  loves 
the  top." 

"Don't  be  cynical,  Pirie,"  said  Mrs.  Macmanus,  who  had 
not  failed  to  note  the  longing  glances  cast  in  Fanny's 
direction.  "It  can't  be  laid  to  extreme  youth  in  your 


case." 


Now,  why  is  a  man  always  called  cynical  when  he  tells 
tin-  truth?     No  limelight,  no  martyrs." 

"  Oh,  what  a  sophisticated  old  lot  we  are,"  said  Mrs.  Mac 
manus,  with  a  sigh.  "I  wish  I  knew  as  little  as  that  charming 
Fanny.  She  is  youth  —  innocent  barbarous  youth  —  per 
sonified.  Look  at  her  flirting  with  her  aunt's  lover.  I 
always  said  that  honor  was  an  acquired  virtue." 

"Sh—sh— "  whispered  Mrs.  Winstone,  and  she  sprang 
to  her  feet. 

Mrs.  Edis  stood  in  the  terrace  doorway  leaning  on  her 
stick.  She  looked  like  an  allegory  of  the  past,  the  uncom 
promising  disillusioned  past,  which  has  come  in  contact 
with  none  of  the  bridges  that  connect  with  the  present. 
Her  keen  contemptuous  gaze  had  just  lit  upon  Fanny  and 
Tay,  when  the  company,  made  aware  of  her  presence,  rose 
precipitately,  and  were  presented  by  Mrs.  Winstone. 

"I  bid  you  all  welcome  to  my  house,"  said  Mrs.  Edis, 
formally. 

Fanny  had  hastily  marshalled  Tay  into  the  circle.  Mrs. 
Edis  favored  him  with  a  piercing  look  which  gave  him  a  sen 
sation  of  acute  discomfort. 

"Good  lord  !"  he  thought.  "Here's  an  enemy  worthy 
of  any  man's  mettle.  What  a  family  ! " 

Mrs.  Winstone  almost  laughed  aloud  as  she  met  her  sis 
ter's  glance  of  disgust.  It  was  long  since  she  had  enjoyed 
herself  so  thoroughly.  To  outwit  Jane  and  embroil  every 
body  else  was  better  for  the  nerves  than  mere  vegetating. 

Mrs.  Edis  turned  to  Fanny. 

"Where  is  Julia?" 
'I  don't  know,  Grandmother." 

"  Go  and  find  her.  She  must  not  appear  to  want  in  hos 
pitality." 


494  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"Yes,  Grandmother." 

"  Sit  down,  all  of  you." 

The  company  did  as  commanded,  Tay  in  ostentatious 
proximity  to  Mrs.  Winstone.  There  was  a  moment's  pro 
found  silence,  Mrs.  Edis,  like  George  Washington,  having 
the  rare  gift  of  immersing  any  company  in  an  ice  bath.  Mrs. 
Macmanus  would  never  have  dreamed  of  making  conversa 
tion  unless  she  had  something  to  say ;  Pirie  and  Morison, 
snubbed  by  Fanny,  were  both  sulky;  Mrs.  Winstone 
was  flirting  with  Tay  under  the  eagle  eye  of  her  sister,  who 
poured  out  the  tea.  Finally,  Mrs.  Morison,  with  the  Amer 
ican  woman's  sense  of  conversational  responsibility,  rushed 
into  the  breach,  after  peremptorily  motioning  to  her  hus 
band  to  sit  beside  her  on  the  little  sofa :  here  was  an  op 
portunity  for  a  parade  of  domestic  American  bliss. 

"Oh,  Mrs.  Edis!"  she  cried.  "We  were  just  talking 
when  you  came  in-  Aren't  you  quite  too  frightfully 
proud  of  Mrs.  France?" 

"Frightfully?" 

"Our  dreadful  slang.  I  mean  — well,  aren't  you  too 
proud  of  her  for  words?" 

"And  pray  why  should  I  be  unable  to  express  myself? 
Julia  was  always  a  good  child." 

"Oh,  of  course  —  but  it  isn't  often  that  any  one  is  as  good 
as  Mrs.  France,  and  so  tremendously  clever." 

"I  am  glad  to  infer  that  you  think  well  of  Julia."  Mrs. 
Edis,  reflecting  that  society  was  even  more  silly  than  in  her 
own  day,  wondered  how  long  these  people  would  stay. 
She  observed  that  the  company  was  looking  amused,  but 
before  she  had  time  to  speculate  upon  the  cause,  she  forgot 
the  rest  of  them,  in  her  keen  observation  of  Tay.  He  was 
ignoring  Mrs.  Winstone  and  frowning  at  his  sister.  But 
in  another  moment  she  forgot  even  him. 

"Oh,  I  don't  count,"  cried  the  desperate  Mrs.  Morison. 
"  I'm  merely  trying  to  make  myself  agreeable,  in  return  for 
your  gracious  hospitality.  It's  what  the  world  thinks." 

"The  world?" 

"Surely,  you  must  feel  proud  that  she's  quite  the  hope 


FANNY  495 

of  the  party,  a  flaming  torch.     If  she  remains  in  London, 
why,  she'll  be  its  only  leader  —  a  regular  queen." 

"Queen?" 

Mrs.  Edis  set  the  tea-pot  violently  down. 

"Prime  Minister,  you  know,  or  something  like  that," 
said  Pirie.  ''Strange  things  are  happening." 

"Are  you  making  game  of  me?"  cried  Mrs.  Edis,  fu 
riously. 

"Oh,  Pirie  never  makes  game  of  anybody  but  himself," 
said  Mrs.  Macmanus,  soothingly. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  then,  but  it  sounds  pure  gammon 
to  me." 

"It  does  to  many,  dear  madam." 

Mrs.  Edis  was  staring  straight  before  her,  the  company 
forgotten.  "Queen."  That  stjll  active  brain,  never  rusty, 
nor  clouded,  had  leaped  back  to  the  night  when  she  and 
old  M'sieu  had  pored  over  Julia's  horoscope.  "Queen." 
The  word  had  almost  been  written.  They  had  compro 
mised  on  a  mere  peerage,  as  the  times  no  longer  permitted 
the  marriage  of  a  sovereign  with  a  subject.  But  —  times 
change  —  Julia  had  unwittingly  made  her  feel  like  an  old 
crab  —  moreover,  the  twentieth  century  was  to  witness  the 
birth  of  a  new  solar  year,  the  year  of  Man.  Might  that  be 
but  a  generic  term  ?  The  woman's  movement'  had  been 
abhorrent  to  her,  shocking  every  aristocratic  instinct,  much 
as  she  despised  men.  But  she  had  begun  to  realize  that  it 
was  both  portentous  and  imperishable.  If  Julia  was  to 
lead  it,  if  in  it  lay  her  child's  only  chance  to  achieve  a  vast 
and  splendid  distinction  —  well,  she  was  not  too  old  to 
reconstruct  her  ideas,  bury  her  inherited  ideals,  move,  her 
self,  with  the  times. 

She  became  aware  that  a  pall-like  silence  had  descended 
upon  her  guests. 

"Pardon  me,"  she  said  more  graciously.     "I  am  an  old 
woman  and  my  mind  wanders.     What  you  said  startled 
me.     A  great  future  was  predicted  for  my  child  at  birth  - 
and  the  time  came  when  I  made  sure  that  she  was  to  be  a 
duchess — " 


496  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"Duchess!"  cried  Mrs.  Morison.  "Oh,  dear  me,  a 
duchess  isn't  in  it  these  days  with  a  great  public  leader. 
Think  of  all  the  dukedoms  that  have  been  bought  with 
brand  new  American  dollars.  It's  now  quite  a  common 
place  position." 

"Is  this  true?" 

"True  as  Suffrage,  dear  madam,"  said  Mrs.  Macmanus. 
"There  are  even  English  duchesses  that  are  nobodies. 
This  is  the  day  of  the  individual." 

Once  more  Mrs.  Edis  stared  straight  before  her.  "  I  see  ! 
I  see  !"  she  muttered. 

Tay  sprang  to  his  feet  and  bore  down  upon  his  sister. 

"For  God's  sake  change  the  subject,"  he  said,  in  a  tone 
of  concentrated  fury.  "Can't  you  see  what  is  going  on  in 
that  old  woman's  mind?  I  wish  you  had  stayed  in  New 
York." 

"I  kept  getting  in  deeper  and  deeper,"  said  Mrs.  Mori- 
son,  apologetically,  but  enjoying  herself,  nevertheless. 
"That  old  woman  would  rattle  anybody.  Here  comes  your 
Julia." 

Julia  had  hidden  when  she  heard  Fanny's  voice,  but  on 
second  thoughts  had  concluded  not  to  arouse  her  mother's 
suspicions.  She  had  therefore  hastily  put  herself  into  a 
soft  white  house  frock  with  a  floating  green  scarf,  and 
looked  little  older  than  Fanny. 

She  barely  glanced  at  Tay,  but  smiled  brightly  at  the 
other  guests.  "Good  afternoon,  everybody.  How  de 
lightful  to  see  the  old  house  so  gay.  A  very  strong  cup, 
please,  mother." 

"Oh,  not  so  awfully  gay,"  cried  Mrs.  Morison.  "We've 
been  talking  Suffrage." 

"No  more  of  that  at  present,"  said  Mrs.  Edis,  peremp 
torily.  "Fanny,  stop  trying  to  engage  Mr.  Tay's  atten 
tion.  He  came  to  Nevis  to  see  your  grandaunt.  Go  and 
talk  to  Mrs.  Macmanus.  Young  girls  should  always  strive 
to  make  themselves  agreeable  to  elderly  ladies." 

Fanny  obeyed  sulkily,  and  the  company,  now  put  com 
pletely  at  its  ease,  fell  upon  the  tea  and  cakes,  which  Mrs. 


FANNY  497 

Edis  finally  remembered  to  order  Denny  to  pass.  Tay  bent 
over  Mrs.  Winstone  and  shot  a  glance  at  Julia.  She  was 
consumed  with  silent  laughter.  His  eyes  grew  imploring, 
but  he  moved  them  with  a  sudden  sense  of  discomfort. 
Mrs.  Edis  looked  as  if  about  to  launch  her  cane  at  him. 

Mrs.  Macmanus,  fearing  they  would  all  break  into  hys 
terical  laughter,  addressed  herself  to  Mrs.  Edis.  "We  have 
been  admiring  your  wonderful  old  house.  Would  it  be  ask 
ing  too  much  to  let  us  see  more  of  it  ?  " 

"And  the  delicious  grounds,"  cried  Mrs.  Morison,  deter 
mined  to  acquit  herself  and  give  Dan  his  opportunity  to 
talk  to  Julia.  "I've  never  seen  anything  like  those  ter 
races  rising  up  the  mountain." 

Mrs.  Edis  rose.  "Give  me  your  arm,  Julia.  I  shall  be 
happy  to  show  our  guests  the  house,  and  then  you  may  take 
them  up  to  the  cone." 

"I'll  not  go,"  said  Tay  to  Mrs.  Winstone.  "I  shall  stay 
here.  Please  get  Julia  away  from  them  and  send  her  back." 

"Very  well, "said  Mrs.  Winstone, good-naturedly.  "Pos 
sess  your  soul  in  patience  !" 

"I've  a  small  stock  left!" 


2K 


VI 

ALONE,  a  moment  later,  Tay  was  contemplating  a  short 
excursion  into  the  garden  with  the  solace  of  a  cigarette, 
when  he  heard  light  rapid  footsteps  on  the  terrace  flags. 
He  turned  eagerly.  But  it  was  Fanny  who  came  running 
in.  .  Her  face  was  flushed  with  triumph,  and  her  eyes 
sparkled  under  their  heavy  lids. 

"I  gave  Granny  the  slip,"  she  exclaimed.  "Let's  stay 
here  and  make  Julia  jealous." 

"But  your  grandmother  will  be  unmerciful  - 
"Oh,  she  never  knows  whether  I'm  round  or  not." 
"You  make  me  feel  that  you  lead  a  most  unnatural  life." 
"You  may  just  better  believe  I  do  —  dodging  Granny, 
and  watching  cane  grow.     Oh,  do  make  me  feel  like  a  girl  in 
a  book.     You  had  just  begun  to  tell  me  about  that  wonder 
ful  San  Francisco  when  Granny  had  to  come  in.     Tell  me 
more.     It  will  be  something  to  dream  of  even  if  I  never  can 
see  it." 

Tay  resigned  himself  and  sat  down. 
"Oh,  you'll  see  it,  all  right.     You  will  visit  us." 
"But  suppose  Julia  won't  become  an  American  and 
divorce  that  lunatic  of  hers." 

"  But  she  shall,  and  you  must  help  me.     Will  you  ?  " 
"If  you  will  swear  to  take  me  away  and  find  me  a  hus 
band  as  perfectly  fascinating  as  yourself." 

"  Good  lord  ! "  Tay  almost  blushed.  Then  he  looked  at 
her  suspiciously.  Was  the  little  devil  as  innocent  as  she 
pretended,  or  was  this  merely  the  instinct  of  the  born  co 
quette,  crudely  expressing  itself  ?  "Oh,  you'll  meet  a  hun 
dred  far  better  worth  your  while  than  I  am." 

"I  don't  believe  it,"  announced  Fanny,  who  had  never 
removed  her  eyes  from  his  face.  ("What's  an  aunt  ?"  she 
was  thinking,  "especially  when  she's  old  enough  to  be  your 

498 


FANNY  499 

mother?")     "And  have  they  all  got  as  much  money?" 
she  added  aloud. 

This  certainly  was  ingenuousness!  "Oh,  I'm  a  pauper 
compared  with  several  I  could  name.  Any  one  of  them  will 
succumb  at  once." 

"Julia  says  she  will  take  me  back  to  London  and  ask  a 
friend  of  hers,  Lady  Dark,  to  give  me  a  gay  season,  but  San 
Francisco  sounds  even  more  fascinating.  Haven't  you  any 
titles  in  America  ?  " 

"Oh,  titles  without  number.  Especially  honorables. 
Every  ex-official,  if  he's  bagged  a  big  enough  office,  expects 
*  honorable '  on  his  letters  for  the  rest  of  his  life.  And  once 
a  judge  always  a  judge.  State  senators  are  addressed  as 
if  they  were  old  Romans,  and  the  militia  turns  out  even 
more  life  titles  than  the  bench." 

But  the  American  humor  was  beyond  Fanny.  She 
pouted.  "Tell  me  something  really  interesting.  Tell  me 
about  a  whole  day  of  life  in  San  Francisco.  Tell  me  every 
thing  you  think  and  feel  and  do." 

"Great  Scott!" 

"Oh,"  cried  Fanny,  throwing  herself  halfway  across  the 
little  table.     "If  you  only  knew  how  I  want  to  know - 
everything !  everything !" 

"Oh,  you'll  learn  fast  enough.  Nevis  will  never  hold 
you.  But  I'll  help  you  out,  by  George  !  It  would  be  some 
fun  to  turn  you  loose  and  watch  you  make  things  hum." 

"How  perfectly  heavenly  to  hear  some  one  talking  about 
poor  little  me  !  Tell  me  more  about  myself." 

Tay  laughed  indulgently.     "You  are  a  baby  !" 

"Don't  laugh  at  me.  Oh  —  I'm  not  a  bit  like  Julia. 
I'd  have  killed  that  husband  of  hers  long  before  she  shut 
him  up.  Queer  how  different  people  in  the  same  family 
can  be.  They  all  seem  to  think  that  Julia's  not  much 
changed  —  although  she's  really  quite  old  now.  But  it 
would  have  made  a  devil  out  of  me." 

"I  believe  you  !"  And  he  added  unwillingly,  "How  in 
teresting  you  will  be  when  you  are  a  few  years  older." 

"Not  if  I  stay  on  Nevis." 


5oo  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"Oh,  don't  let  that  worry  you." 

She  brought  her  face  so  close  to  his  that  he  fancied  he 
felt  a  light  shock  of  electricity.  "  Swear  it ! "  she  whispered 
eagerly.  "  You  look  as  if  you  could  do  anything  you  wanted 
to  do.  I  haven't  felt  a  bit  encouraged  by  Julia's  promises, 
but  if  you  promise  me  - 

Tay  stood  up  and  put  .his  hands  in  his  pockets.  "It's 
a  go,"  he  said.  "Trust  me  to  turn  you  loose  among  our 
squabs  the  first  chance  I  get  - 

"Fanny,  dear,  will  you  show  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Morison  the 
orchards?  They  are  waiting  for  you." 

Julia's  tones  had  never  been  so  sweet,  her  large  gray  eyes 
so  cool ;  but  as  Fanny,  with  a  sharp,  "Oh,  very  well,  Aunt 
Julia,"  went  forth  on  a  leaden  foot,  both  voice  and  expres 
sion  changed. 

"  You  were  flirting  with  Fanny  !" 

"So  I  was,"  said  Tay,  coolly.  "That  girl's  spoiling  for 
a  flirtation.  Well,  I'll  gratify  her  if  you  leave  me  to  my 
own  devices  on  this  beastly  island." 

"  You'd  never  do  such  a  thing !  Destroy  that  child's 
peace  of  mind  - 

"Peace  of  mind  nothing.  That's  not  the  sort  that  gets 
hurt.  If  she  belonged  to  a  lower  walk  of  life,  she'd  be  on 
the  -  Well,  our  Fillmore  precinct  can  show  you  dozens, 
walking  the  streets  of  an  evening  looking  for  trouble. 
'Juicy  peaches,'  as  Pirie  calls  them,  just  waiting  to  be 
plucked.  Accident  is  about  all  that  protects  the  Fannys. 
Few  men  are  in  the  seducing  business  when  it  comes  to 
their  own  class." 

"Dan  !"  cried  Julia,  aghast.  "You  must  be  in  a  fright 
ful  temper  to  say  such  things  to  me  about  my  own  niece." 

"She's  practically  my  niece.  And  I  am  in  a  frightful 
temper.  Never  expect  to  be  in  a  worse.  Little  good  even 
this  ruse  has  done  me.  Your  mother's  eyes  could  see 
through  a  stone  wall." 

Women  find  few  of  man's  moods  so  attractive,  before 
matrimony,  as  his  anger.  It  rouses  their  inherited  instinct 
to  placate,  to  submit.  Julia  went  to  the  terrace  door  and 


FANNY  501 

looked  up  and  down.  Her  mother  was  sitting  in  an  arbor 
with  Mrs.  Macmanus  and  Pirie.  She  was  also  leaning 
back  in  her  chair,  resigned,  if  not  interested. 

Julia  went  up  to  Tay  and  put  her  hand  on  his  arm. 
"Don't  —  please!  —  be    angry  with   me,"  she  whispered. 
"If  you  knew  what  a  tumult  I've  been  in  —  finding  you 
here  —  wanting  to  see  you  more  than  anything  on  earth  - 
but  not  knowing  what  to  do  !" 

Tay  melted  instantly,  and  took  her  in  his  arms  and 
kissed  her.  "  It's  all  simple  enough.  I'll  take  the  next 
American  steamer  if  you  insist  upon  it,  but  that  doesn't 
come  for  eight  days  yet.  Meanwhile  I  must  see  you.  I 
don't  like  the  tropics.  They  get  on  my  nerves.  Nothing 
doing,  and  the  air  shot  with  a  curious  lazy  electricity. 
And  I'm  by  no  means  satisfied  with  myself.  I  should  be 
in  California  this  minute.  Love  plays  the  devil  with  a  man ! " 

44  But  you  would  stay  a  month  if  I  wanted  you  to!" 
said  Julia,  triumphantly. 

"Six  months,  let  everything  go  hang  !"  he  said  savagely. 
"You've  got  me,  all  right.  But  to  waste  my  time  —  even 
for  eight  —  nine  days  longer  !  That's  a  horse  of  another 
color.  Am  I  to  see  you  every  day  or  not  ?" 

"Oh,  yes!  Yes!"  murmured  Julia.  "I  have  given  up 
the  struggle.  The  way  you  got  in  —  it  was  too  funny  ! 
I  saw  at  once  that  I  might  as  well  give  up  first  as  last.  You 
will  always  have  your  way.  Besides,  I  want  to.  I'll 
meet  you  every  day,  three  times  a  day.  I  couldn't  help 
myself  if  I  would." 

"Thank  heaven.  And  don't  try  being  too  strong  again. 
It's  not  the  strong  women  that  men  die  for,  Julia." 

He  lifted  his  head  with  the  uneasy  sense  of  being  watched. 
"Damn  it!"  he  thought.  "Is  that  old  witch-  But 
he  could  see  nothing. 

"Julia,"  he  said,  lowering  his  voice,  "I  shall  not  come 
to  this  house  again.  Meet  me  to-night  —  no,  to-morrow 
morning  —  early  —  at  nine  o'clock  —  over  in  that  jungle." 

"I  will !  I  will !  Only  promise  never  to  be  angry  with 
me  again." 


502  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"That  will  depend  entirely  upon  yourself.  If  you  go 
back  on  your  word  - 

"As  if  I  would  !  We'll  have  long  wonderful  days  to 
gether  -  Oh,  dear,  they  are  coming." 

She  broke  away  from  him  and  smoothed  her  hair. 

"It's  not  so  late,"  said  Tay,  hurriedly,  "only  six. 
Couldn't  you  come  for  a  spin  in  my  motor  boat  ?  I'll  walk 
back,  and  wait  for  you  at  the  bend  of  the  road." 

"I'll  try.  If  I  don't,  it  will  be  because  I  can't  get  away 
from  mother.  But  I'll  be  in  the  jungle  to-morrow  at  nine." 

The  guests  entered  with  Mrs.  Winstone. 

"Southern  California  isn't  in  it,  Dan,"  said  his  sister, 
mischievously.  "Such  orange  and  lime  groves.  You 
must  come  again.  Still,  /  could  hardly  tear  myself  away 
from  this  room  - 

A  door  opened  and  Fanny  burst  in.  She  looked  on  the 
verge  of  hysterics.  "Oh,  what  do  you  think?"  she  cried. 
"What  do  you  think?  Granny  says  I  can  go  to  the  party 
on  Thursday  night,  and  that  I  may  go  to  Bath  House  every 
day  and  see  you,  Mrs.  Morison  !  She  likes  you  so  much. 
The  skies  must  be  going  to  fall.  You  have  bewitched  her." 

"You  are  talking  nonsense,"  said  Mrs.  Winstone. 

"Ask  Granny.  She  was  almost  sweet.  But  who  cares 
what's  come  over  her?  You  will  teach  me  to  dance,  won't 
you,  Mr.  Tay?  I  could  learn  in  five  minutes." 

"Charmed.  Congratulate  you  — and  ourselves.  Is  the 
carriage  ready?" 

"Oh,  it  is!  I'll  go  out  with  our  guests.  Don't  you 
bother,  Julia.  Aunt  Maria,  you  must  be  tired  out.  Oh, 
what  a  funny,  funny  day  !  I'll  never  sleep  again." 

"  Really,  I  do  feel  as  if  we  had  all  gone  mad,"  said  Mrs. 
Winstone,  when  the  good-bys  had  been  said,  and  she  and 
Julia  were  alone.  "Jane  must  be  quite  off  her  head. 
There's  a  cruiser  comin'  in  to-morrow.  Fanny'll  be  engaged 
to-morrow  night.  Perhaps,  after  all,  Jane  jumped  at  the 
chance  of  gettin'  rid  of  her." 

"Oh,  I  was  sure  she  would  relent.  And  she  could  see 
to-day  what  company  means  to  a  young  girl." 


I  \\-\V  503 

She  ran  away  to  her  room  to  change  her  frock,  for  she 
had  no  intention  of  incurring  Tay's  wrath  again.  But  as 
she  was  about  to  open  her  door  she  saw  Denny  coming  down 
the  corridor  waving  two  cablegrams. 

"Oh,  dear!"  she  thought.  "Is  this  a  summons?  Well, 
thank  heaven  I  can't  get  away  for  a  fortnight  yet. 

She  took  the  cablegrams,  half  resolved,  as  she  closed  her 
door,  not  to  open  them  until  her  return.  But  of  course  she 
did  nothing  of  the  sort,  and  read  them  promptly. 

The  first  was  from  Ishbel :  — 

"All  serene.     Stay  as  long  as  you  like." 

The  second  was  from  the  duke :  - 

"Harold  died  this  morning." 

"And  he  knows,"  thought  Julia,  with  instant  conviction. 
"That  is  what  brought  him  here." 


VII 

FORCED  to  the  wall,  Julia's  mind  always  became  cool 
and  practical.  Tay  inspired  her  with  a  new  fear.  If  he 
had  come  to  Nevis  to  await  her  husband's  death,  he  in 
tended  to  marry  her  and  take  her  away  with  him.  It  was  one 
more  proof  that  he  possessed  that  form  of  genius  which 
makes  certain  men  the  quick  partner  of  circumstance  and 
insures  their  mastery  of  life.  In  his  own  phraseology,  he 
never  missed  a  trick.  No  doubt  he  would  take  out  a  special 
license  to-morrow. 

But  she  had  no  intention  of  being  rushed  into  marriage. 
The  most  formidable  barrier  had  been  razed ;  her  desertion 
of  the  women  might  bring  reprobation  on  herself,  but  not 
ridicule  on  the  cause;  nevertheless,  confronted  with  the 
necessity  of  an  immediate  decision,  she  realized  acutely 
that  four  years  of  devotion  to  a  great  impersonal  ideal  had 
inspired  her  with  a  love  for  it  of  which  she  had  barely  been 
conscious  at  the  time.  The  idea  of  deserting  this  cause  she 
had  made  her  own,  or,  at  the  most,  giving  it  a  divided  hom 
age  in  a  distant  land,  renewed  that  love  with  such  a  jealous 
intensity  that  for  the  moment  she  hated  Tay  as  the  chief 
exponent  of  that  ruthless  male  force  which  had  bred  the 
revolt  of  Woman.  His  dash  to  Nevis  was  a  declaration  of 
war,  but  a  war  which  should  bring  defeat  to  her  not  to  him. 
She  buckled  on  her  own  armor  at  the  thought.  It  was  pos 
sible  that  he  would  win,  but  not  without  her  full  connivance. 
Nor  should  she  see  him  again  until  she  had  made  up  her 
mind  with  no  assistance  of  his. 

She  had  instantly  abandoned  the  intention  to  meet  him 
at  present,  and  sat  down  to  compose  a  note  to  send  him  on 
the  morrow.  Many  sheets  went  into  the  waste-paper 
basket  before  this  note  was  written  to  her  satisfaction.  It 

504 


FANNY  505 

was  impossible  to  refer  openly  to  her  husband's  death,  nor, 
for  the  matter  of  that,  was  it  necessary.  Angry  as  she  was, 
she  never  for  a  moment  forgot  that  his  instant  sympathy, 
his  instinctive  comprehension  of  her,  was  the  deepest  of 
their  bonds.  A  word  would  be  sufficient.  He  would  un 
derstand,  and  wait. 

'  You  must  give  me  three  or  four  days,  possibly  a  week, 
to  think  it  all  out,"  she  wrote  finally.  "  You  think  and 
strike  like  lightning,  but  my  mind  is  made  on  another  plan. 
For  me,  all  great  crises  must  be  approached  with  delibera 
tion,  if  only  because  nature  made  me  the  most  impulsive 
of  women.  I  have  learned  to  weigh,  having  a  profound 
distrust  for  those  instincts  upon  which  women  pride  them 
selves.  But  you  always  understand.  I  could  not  love  you 
if  you  did  not.  When  I  write  next,  my  mind  will  have  been 
made  up  once  for  all." 

But  unfortunately  Tay  was  not  in  a  position  to  under 
stand.  He  had  received  no  second  cablegram  from  Dark, 
for  Dark  knew  nothing  of  France's  death.  The  duke,  by 
no  means  anxious  to  remind  the  world  that  another  member 
of  the  house  of  France  had  gone  insane,  made  no  announce 
ment  in  the  London  newspapers,  and  it  was  not  until  sev 
eral  days  later  that  Ishbel  heard  the  news  from  Bridgit. 

"That's  over,  thank  heaven!"  said  Mrs.  Maundrell. 
"  And  I'm  going  to  take  the  bull  by  the  horns  and  send  Nigel 
to  Nevis  when  he  returns  next  week.  Happily,  Mr.  Tay 
is  safe  in  California.  What  is  the  matter?" 

"I  was  thinking  how  wonderful  it  would  be  if  Nigel  and 
Julia  really  should  marry,  after  all,"  said  Ishbel,  without 
a  blush.  "But  I  must  run,  dear.  I've  a  dinner  to-night." 
And  she  hastened  to  the  cable  office  and  sent  a  mes 
sage  to  Tay;  and  another  to  Julia,  warning  her  of  the 
threatened  invasion. 

But  this  was  not  until  three  days  later,  and  meanwhile 
Tay  received  Julia's  note.  Nor  was  Denny  the  messenger. 

The  old  servant  had  orders  to  take  it  to  the  hotel  at  seven 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  and,  if  Tay  had  gone  out  (and  even 
visitors  rise  early  in  the  tropics)  to  go  to  the  jungle  at  nine. 


5o6  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

As  Denny  never  hurried  himself,  it  was  after  seven  when  he 
started  on  his  errand.  Fanny  was  mounting  her  horse  for 
her  daily  ride  over  the  estate  when  he  passed  her.  She 
saw  the  note,  held  respectfully  in  his  hand,  swooped  down 
upon  it,  and  tucked  it  in  her  belt. 

"You  have  too  much  to  do  to  go  on  errands,"  she  said 
severely.  "  I  will  give  this  note  to  Mr.  Tay.  Where  shall 
I  find  him?" 

Denny  repeated  his  instructions,  adding  dubiously,  "But 
you  never  go  off  the  estate  alone,  Missy." 

"I  shall  this  morning,  and  see  that  you  do  not  mention 
it.  If  you  do,  you  shall  have  no  tobacco  for  a  week." 

Fanny  attended  to  her  duties  mechanically  until  a  few 
minutes  before  nine,  then  turned  her  horse  in  the  direction 
of  the- jungle.  She  felt  no  curiosity  in  regard  to  the  contents 
of  the  note,  but  knew  that  it  must  have  been  written  to  break 
an  appointment.  She  hummed  an  old  African  tune  and 
felt  that  she  held  the  apple  of  life  in  her  hand.  No  scruples 
disturbed  her.  Julia  was  thirty-four,  quite  old  enough,  as 
she  had  frankly  observed,  to  be  her  mother,  certainly  old 
enough  to  have  done  with  love,  far  too  old  to  interfere  with 
the  preeminent  rights  of  youth.  Nor  had  she  the  faintest 
misgivings  as  to  her  power  to  take  any  man  from  any 
woman.  Was  she  not  eighteen  ?  Was  she  not  a  beauty  ? 
Did  not  every  man's  eye  light  a  torch  as  it  met  hers  ?  The 
arrogance  of  girlhood  was  never  more  consummately  real 
ized  than  in  Fanny  Edis  on  that  glorious  tropic  morning 
as  she  rode  to  appropriate  her  aunt's  lover;  and  although 
her  intelligence  was  too  undeveloped  to  reason,  she  subtly 
felt  that  nature  was  always  the  ally  of  such  fresh  healthy 
young  vehicles  for  the  race  as  she.  Nor  was  she  as  inno 
cent  as  Julia  had  been  at  her  age.  No  governess  had  ever 
been  able  to  keep  at  her  heels,  and  she  had  seen  much  of 
life  among  the  blacks. 

She  saw  Tay  walking  restlessly  up  and  down  before  a 
grove  of  banana  trees,  and  waved  to  him  gayly,  taking  no 
notice  of  his  apprehensive  frown. 

"Here  is  a  letter  from  Julia,"  she  said  as  she  rode  up. 


FANNY  507 

"I  suspect  she  can't  come.  Granny  told  her  last  night 
that  she  wanted  the  whole  history  of  that  Suffrage  move 
ment  this  morning." 

Tay  barely  heard  her.  He  read  with  a  sensation  of 
amazement  the  brief  too  carefully  written  message,  which 
informed  him  that  he  was  to  waste  a  week  more  of  his  pre 
cious  time  on  this  island.  He  had  no  key  to  the  riddle,  and 
was  astonished  at  this  manifestation  of  caprice  in  a  woman 
who  had  always  seemed  to  him  to  possess  just  enough  of 
that  charming  feminine  quality ;  none  of  the  stupid  excess 
which  made  so  many  women  unreasonable.  Moreover, 
she  had  deliberately  broken  her  word.  Anger  succeeded 
amazement,  and  if  there  had  been  a  steamer  leaving  Nevis, 
he  would  have  taken  it  and  flung  the  consequences  in  her 
face.  But  here  he  was  a  captive  for  quite  another  week. 
He  had  no  intention  of  betraying  his  chagrin  to  this  sharp- 
eyed  girl,  however,  and  he  merely  put  the  note  in  his  pocket 
and  thanked  her  for  bringing  it. 

But  the  eyes  he  met  were  not  sharp.  They  were  fixed  on 
him  in  a  large  appeal. 

"Mr.  Tay,"  Fanny  said,  with  charming  hesitation,  "I 
know  that  Julia  wouldn't  meet  you  this  morning,  and  from 
something  she  said  last  night  I  know  that  she  does  not  in 
tend  to  leave  the  estate  for  several  days.  She  made  Aunt 
Maria  promise  to  take  me  to  the  party  at  Bath  House  on 
Thursday.  She  said  she  was  too  tired,  but  I  am  sure  she  is 
avoiding  you.  It  is  too  horrid  of  her,  when  you  have  come 
all  this  distance.  But  I  don't  fancy  any  one  can  unmake 
Aunt  Julia's  mind.  So  —  so  —  I  have  a  plan  to  propose." 

She  blushed  and  looked  handsomer  than  ever,  and  as 
she  was  a  born  horsewoman,  this  was  very  handsome  indeed. 
Her  lids  drooped,  and  she  drew  a  long'  breath,  almost  of 
ecstasy.  "Oh,  Mr.  Tay!"  she  whispered  imploringly. 
"Make  believe  that  I  am  Aunt  Julia  —  youn&  again - 
while  you  are  here  !  Then  I  should  have  an  imitation  love 
affair,  at  least,  and  it  would  be  something  always  to  re 
member.  Will  you?" 

Tay  stared   at   her;    but  balked,    angry,    helpless,    his 


5o8  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

temper  lashed  with  the  memory  of  cablegrams  he  had  re 
ceived  that  morning  both  from  his  irate  father  and  the 
Lincoln-Roosevelt  League,  he  felt  more  than  inclined  to 
accept  this  young  coquette's  proposal,  not  only  to  punish 
Julia,  but  to  pass  the  time.  Moreover,  Julia  had  thrown 
her  at  his  head.  He  never  doubted  that  she  had  given 
Fanny  the  note ;  and  he  wondered  at  the  fatuity  of  woman. 
Still,  he  hesitated. 

Fanny  pouted. 

"You  are  afraid  I  will  fall  in  love  with  you,"  she  said 
audaciously. 

"More  likely  it  would  be  the  other  way,"  he  replied  with 
automatic  gallantry. 

"Well  — why  not?" 

"  My  dear  Miss  Edis,  there  is  no  more  harrowing  experi 
ence  than  being  in  love  with  two  women  at  once." 

"  As  if  such  a  thing  could  be  ! " 

"Common  enough  outside  of  books." 

"Well  -  You  might  love  me  on  Nevis  and  keep  Julia 
for  London.  That  is  where  she  belongs." 

Again  Tay  stared  at  her.  She  had  the  heady  magnetism 
of  youth.  She  was  a  part  of  the  gorgeous  tropic  scene. 
He  reflected  that  if  he  had  met  Fanny  first,  and  on  Nevis, 
he  certainly  should  have  flirted  with  her.  He  did  not  take 
girls  very  seriously,  having  been  trained  by  the  cool  flirta 
tious  young  heads  of  his  own  race.  That  Fanny  was  in  love 
with  him  never  entered  his  mind.  Little  did  he  guess  the 
pickle  he  was  mixing  for  himself  when  he  finally  raised 
that  brown  little  hand  to  his  lips. 

"  By  all  means  let  us  have  our  comedy,"  he  said.  "I  am 
game  if  you  are." 

Fanny  gave  a  nervous  laugh  that  might  have  warned 
him  if  anger  and  disappointment  had  not  made  him  reck 
less.  She  slid  from  her  horse  and  tied  it  to  a  tree. 

"Now  take  me  out  in  your  motor-boat,"  she  said  with  a 
charming  air  of  authority.  "That  will  be  a  real  adventure." 


VIII 

JULIA,  grateful  for  any  distraction  after  another  sleep 
less  night,  went  to  her  mother's  room  to  relate  the  history 
of  Woman's  Suffrage  from  its  incipiency  in  the  United 
States  of  America  down  to  the  present  moment,  when  the 
English  women,  having  been  driven  to  adopt  the  methods 
of  men,  were  confident  of  victory  for  the  first  time. 

Mrs.  Edis,  who  rose  late  in  these  days,  was  propped  up 
in  bed,  wearing  the  expression  of  one  who  is  about  to  enter 
a  hospital  and  have  the  operation  performed  which  may 
give  her  a  new  lease  of  life. 

"If  I  must  hear  this  tiresome  story,  I  must,"  she  said. 
"Tell  it  me  in  as  few  words  as  possible,  but  leave  out  no  detail 
which  will  make  me  understand  it  fully.  I  read  your  horo 
scope  again  last  night.  Your  destiny  is  too  plainly  writ  to 
admit  of  any  doubt.  And  it  was  made  three  times.  I  am 
an  old  woman  to  sever  my  mind  from  the  ideals  of  a  life 
time,  but  those  frivolous  people  opened  my  eyes  yester 
day.  Moreover,  you  can  never  be  Duchess  Kingsborough. 
You  are  not  likely  to  have  another  opportunity  to  marry,  for 
no  child  of  mine  would  disgrace  herself  in  the  divorce 
courts."  Her  sharp  eyes  never  left  Julia's  face.  "Nor 
could  you  obtain  a  divorce  in  England.  Ring  the  bell. 
I  wish  another  cup  of  tea.  Then  you  may  convert  me." 

Julia  had  made  up  her  mind  not  to  tell  her  family  of 
France's  death  until  she  had  reached  her  final  decision,  and 
felt  reasonably  certain  that  Mrs.  Winstonc  would  not  hear 
of  it  at  Bath  House.  Tay  would  understand  her  desire 
for  secrecy,  nor  would  he  be  eager  to  admit  that  he  had  come 
to  Nevis  to  await  the  man's  death.  Even  Mrs.  Morison, 
she  felt  sure,  had  not  been  taken  into  his  confidence.  That 
lively  little  lady  had  prattled  a  good  deal  yesterday,  while 
Julia  was  showing  her  the  gardens,  and  it  was  evident  that 

509 


5io  JULIA   FRANCE   AND   HER  TIMES 

she  had  leaped  to  the  natural  conclusion  that  her  brother 
was  determined  to  persuade  Julia  to  have  her  marriage  an 
nulled  in  the  United  States  without  further  delay. 

Mrs.  Edis  having  fortified  herself  with  a  cup  of  strong 
tea,  Julia  spent  the  next  three  hours  telling  her  story. 
When  she  had  finished,  her  mother  did  not  speak  for  a  few 
moments,  then  nodded  her  head  emphatically. 

"  I  see  !  I  see  ! "  she  said.  "  I  shall  never  approve  of  those 
unladylike  demonstrations,  but  I  admit  that  results  have 
justified  them.  Your  destiny  is  clear  to  me  now.  You 
have  only  begun.  I,  in  my  limited  knowledge,  read  that 
you  were  to  be  the  greatest  lady  in  England.  Substitute 
the  greatest  woman  in  England  and  all  is  clear." 

"  It  might  be  in  America,"  said  Julia,  hesitatingly,  but  not 
turning  her  eyes  away.  "They  —  they  —  have  talked 
more  than  once  of  sending  me  there." 

"  Nonsense  !"  Mrs.  Edis  reached  for  her  stick  that  she 
might  thump  the  floor.  "America!  A  nation  of 
savages  — 

"Good  heavens,  mother  !  America  —  the  United  States 
-  is  one  of  the  great  countries  of  the  earth,  a  world  power. 
Must  I  give  you  its  history,  too  ?  " 

"God  forbid.  It  does  not  exist  as  far  as  I  am  concerned. 
Great  Britain  is  practically  the  earth.  No  other  country 
is  worthy  of  your  horoscope.  And  you  must  not  stay  here 
too  long.  Don't  fancy  that  men  will  hasten  to  give  you 
power.  Not  they  !  Men  !  How  I  should  like  to  see  them 
humbled  to  the  dust  before  I  go.  No,  your  time  here  must 
be  short,  and  I  want  you  to  promise  to  give  it  all  to  me." 

"Oh,  I  came  to  see  you." 

"I  shall  claim  you.  Who  is  this  Mr.  Tay?  Is  he  really 
in  love  with  Maria?"  There  was  the  ghost  of  a  smile  on 
her  grim  mouth,  and  her  bright  little  eyes  explored  the 
serene  depths  before  her. 

"Oh,  Aunt  Maria  always  has  an  infant-in-waiting.  I 
doubt  if  she  is  ever  serious." 

"  But  who  is  he  ?  Of  course  he  has  no  family,  as  he  is  an 
American,  but  is  he  respectable?"  Has  he  any  fortune?" 


FANNY  511 

"  He  is  quite  respectable,  and  I  believe  he  is  well  off.  His 
sister,  Mrs.  Bode,  is  an  old  friend  of  Aunt  Maria's.  She  is 
received  everywhere  in  London." 

"Ah?  So  !  Maria  had  better  marry  him.  But  I'll  not 
have  him,  nor  any  of  those  people,  here  again.  I  have 
never  needed  society,  and  now!"  Her  harsh  dry  face  lit 
up.  "My  old  science  is  restored  to  me.  It  will  compan 
ion  me  for  the  rest  of  my  days.  You  need  never  fear  that 
I  am  lonely.  A  great  science  is  all  things  to  the  mind  that 
loves  it.  You  will  visit  me  as  often  as  you  can.  I  need 
nothing  further.  When  Fanny  marries  —  and  I  now  hope 
she  will  find  a  husband  at  Bath  House ;  I  long  to  be  rid  of 
her  sulky  discontented  face  —  my  lawyer  will  engage  a  suit 
able  overseer.  Now  go  and  send  that  lazy  black-and-tan 
mustee  to  come  and  dress  me." 

Fanny  came  in  late  for  lunch.  She  looked  flushed  and 
triumphant,  and  her  manner  was  subtly  insulting.  But 
nobody  noticed  her,  nor  that  she  left  the  house  as  soon  as 
the  meal  finished.  Mrs.  Edis  talked  of  the  new  central 
factory  to  be  built  on  St.  Kitts,  and  the  significance  of  the 
projected  Government  House  for  Nevis.  Mrs.  Winstone 
yawned,  and  Julia  was  absorbed  in  her  own  thoughts.  She 
longed  to  be  alone,  but  she  had  barely  reached  the  shelter 
of  her  room  when  Denny  knocked  and  handed  her  a  letter. 
She  closed  the  door  in  his  face,  and  her  hand  shook.  But 
the  address  was  not  in  Tay's  handwriting,  and  she  opened 
the  letter  with  a  sensation  of  bitter  ennui.  It  proved  to  be 
a  circular  communication  from  the  ladies  of  St.  Kitts,  beg 
ging  her  to  speak  to  them  at  her  convenience  on  the  subject 
of  the  Militant  movement  in  England.  It  was  couched  in 
formal  terms,  but  enthusiasm  exuded,  and  the  word  great, 
personally  applied,  occurred  no  less  than  four  times. 

"Great!"  thought  Julia.  "We  that  the  world  calls 
great  know  just  how  great  we  are.  Every  man  his  own 
valet!" 

Her  impulse  was  to  refuse,  but  on  second  thought  she 
concluded  to  accept  the  invitation,  and  for  the  morrow. 
Here  was  her  opportunity  to  discover  if  the  great  cause  had 


5i2  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

taken  irrevocable  possession  of  her.  She  had  recited  its 
history  mechanically  to  her  mother,  but  that,  no  doubt, 
was  owing  to  her  mental  and  physical  fatigue.  She  would 
sleep  to-night,  and  to-morrow,  if  she  could  feel  the  old  thrill 
when  talking  to  a  rapt  audience,  play  upon  them,  sway 
them,  rise  to  the  heights  of  magnetic  eloquence  which  had 
made  her  famous,  convert  the  cynical,  then,  surely,  her  old 
enthusiasm  would  return.  If  not  - 

Denny  had  told  her  that  the  messenger  awaited  an  an 
swer.  She  went  to  the  living-room  and  read  the  letter  to 
her  mother. 

"If  you  don't  mind  my  leaving  you  for  one  day  - 

Mrs.  Edis  interrupted  her.  There  was  a  slight  flush  on 
her  face.  "By  all  means,  accept,"  she  said.  "And  I,  too, 
will  go.  It  will  be  my  only  opportunity  to  hear  you,  to 
witness  one  of  your  triumphs.  Have  you  all  those  news 
paper  articles  about  yourself  that  I  have  heard  of?" 

"I  am  afraid  not.  I  kept  a  scrap-book  for  a  year,  but  we 
soon  get  over  that." 

"Can  you  obtain  them?" 

"Oh,  yes,  it  would  be  possible." 

"I  wish  them,  and  everything  else  that  is  written  about 
you  from  this  time  forth." 

"Very  well,  you  shall  have  them." 

"Write  your  acceptance.  To-morrow  I  shall  go  to  St. 
Kitts  for  the  first  time  in  sixteen  years.  And  for  the  first 
time  in  forty  years  I  shall  see  that  island  bend  the  knee  to 
an  Edis." 


IX 

THE  next  evening  Julia  sat  in  her  room  divided  between 
consternation  and  secret  joy.  The  women  of  St.  Kitts  had 
given  her  a  reception  such  as  had  never  been  offered  to 
another  woman  in  the  history  of  the  island.  A  military 
band  had  played  a  welcome  as  her  boat  approached  the 
jetty,  a  committee  of  representative  women  had  met  her,  and 
all  Basse  Terre,  black  as  well  as  white,  had  turned  out  to 
escort  her  to  the  house  of  Mrs.  Ridgley,  the  first  lady  of  St. 
Kitts,  where  a  select  few  had  been  invited  to  greet  her  at 
luncheon.  The  meeting  itself  had  taken  place  in  the  ball 
room  of  Government  House,  and  been  attended  by  every 
man  and  woman  that  could  obtain  entrance,  irrespective 
of  sympathies.  All  were  eager  to  be  instructed,  but  far 
more  eager  to  see  and  hear  the  famous  Julia  France,  to  be 
able  to  talk  about  it  for  the  rest  of  their  lives. 

Julia  had  talked  to  them  for  two  hours.  She  instructed 
them  to  the  full,  and  she  related  many  of  her  personal 
experiences  in  and  out  of  Holloway  gaol.  Never  had  she 
sjx^ken  more  brilliantly,  been  more  amusing  and  witty,  and 
never  before  had  she  spoken  with  an  unremitting  sense  of 
effort.  Her  speech  had  come  from  the  head  alone.  It  had 
felt  like  a  wound-up  mechanical  toy.  The  personal  passion 
with  which  she  had  infused  her  speeches  and  won  her  great 
following  never  stirred.  It  had  retreated  to  her  depths,  and 
taken  her  magnetism  with  it.  She  entertained  her  audience 
and  she  converted  no, one.  She  concentrated  her  mind  with 
a  determination  almost  vicious,  but  more  than  once  it  slipped 
its  anchor,  and  she  failed  utterly  to  reduce  the  brains  below 
her  into  one  relaxing  helpless  whole  for  the  planting  of  her 
suggestions. 

She  alone,  however,  realized  her  failure.  St.  Kitts  was 
delighted  with  the  entertainment,  to  say  nothing  of  the 


514  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

profound  satisfaction  of  listening  to  the  woman  who  had 
been  introduced  to  the  world  in  this  very  ball-room,  and  then 
gone  forth  to  make  their  islands  famous  :  St.  Kitts  and  Nevis 
had  more  than  once  been  pictured  in  the  weekly  press  of 
England  while  Julia's  comet  was  playing  about  the  heavens. 
As  for  Mrs.  Edis  she  swelled  with  pride  and  treated  the  ladies 
of  St.  Kitts,  who  showed  her  almost  as  much  honor  as 
they  did  her  daughter,  with  a  haughty  urbanity  that  made 
them  feel  humble  and  insignificant. 

When  the  lecture  was  over, there  was  an  informal  reception, 
during  which  Julia  had  never  been  more  gracious  and 
talkative,  while  wishing  them  all  at  the  bottom  of  the 
Caribbean  Sea.  Then  the  wife  of  the  Administrator  had 
invited  them  into  the  dining-room  for  an  elaborate  tea; 
and  it  was  six  o'clock  before  release  was  sounded,  and 
Julia  found  herself  in  the  boat  once  more,  listening  to  the 
congratulations  and  the  rapt  prophecies  of  her  mother. 

'At  dinner  Fanny  had  stared  with  open  mouth  at  her  grand 
mother's  almost  excited  account  of  the  day's  events,  but 
she  had  finally  turned  to  Julia  with  a  laugh. 

"  Really,  my  famous  aunt,"  she  said,  "  there  can  be  no 
doubt  as  to  what  you  were  born  for.  It  must  be  quite 
wonderful  to  have  a  career.  Shan't  you  change  your  mind 
and  speak  at  Bath  House  ?" 

'  No,"  said  Mrs.  Edis,  sharply.  "  Julia  will  devote  the 
rest  of  her  visit  to  me.  It  is  quite  enough  to  have  two 
members  of  the  family  gadding  at  Bath  House." 

"Upon  my  word,"  said  Mrs.  Winstone,  languidly,  "I 
didn't  come  to  Nevis  to  chaperon  a  young  girl.  Chaper- 
onin's  not  my  line.  I  think  Julia  had  better  take  Fanny  to 
the  party  to-morrow  night." 

"Oh,  no,  Aunt  Maria  !  Julia  —  Julia  needs  a  good  long 
rest." 

Fanny  stared  apprehensively  at  her  young  aunt,  but  was 
immediately  reassured. 

"I  shall  not  go  to  Bath  House  at  present.  And  you, 
Aunt  Maria,  you  have  your  two  old  cronies,  and  bridge. 
Mrs.  Morison  will  look  out  for  Fanny  - 


FANNY  515 

"All  very  well,  but  —  ah  —  I  shouldn't  advise  you  to 
stay  away  too  long.  Mr.  —  ah  —  the  Morisons  are  getting 
impatient  —  say  they'll  leave  by  the  next  steamer,  if  you 
don't  give  them  the  benefit  of  your  society.  That,  it 
appears,  is  what  they  came  for." 

Julia  saw  Fanny  frown  at  Mrs.  Winstone,  but  could  only 
interpret  her  aunt's  words  as  a  warning  that  Tay  was 
showing  signs  of  impatience ;  by  no  means  unwelcome 
news.  She  answered  lightly:  — 

"  I  "didn't  ask  them  to  come.  They  must  take  the  conse 
quences." 

Mrs.  Winstone  shrugged  her  shoulders.  "I  take  very 
little  interest  in  other  people's  affairs,  as  you  know.  And 
advice  was  always  thrown  away  on  you." 

Mrs.  Edis's  dry  sarcastic  tones  interposed  before  Fanny 
could  speak.  And  Fanny's  breath  was  short,  and  her  chair 
might  have  been  sown  with  tacks. 

"Really,  Maria,  you  must  grudge  every  moment  spent 
away  from  Bath  House  and  that  young  fool  of  yours.  I 
wonder  you  can  still  talk  of  coming  to  your  old  home  to 
rest." 

"Quite  so  !"     Mrs.  Winstone,  recalled,  fluttered  her  eye 
lashes,   and   glanced   into  an   old   concave  mirror.     "He 
grows  more  devoted  even'  minute.     One  couldn't  imagine 
<1  ever  had  a  thought  for  another  woman." 

"Good  for  you,  Aunt  Maria,"  cried  Julia,  gayly,  and 
ned  to  her  room. 

Here  she  promptly  forgot  the  conversation  and  sat 
'down  to  face  her  own  problem  once  more.  \Vas  her  love 
for  the  great  impersonal  cause,  which  had  commanded  all 
the  forces  of  her  nature,  extinct  ?  Or  was  her  appalling  cold 
ness  but  the  natural  result  of  her  present  state  of  mind  - 
and  the  agitating  nearness  of  the  man  ?  Surely,  if  she  broke 
with  him  definitely,  returned  to  England,  submerged  herself 
in  \\nrk.  became  a  part  once  more  of  the  crowding  incidents, 
triumphs,  disappointments,  problems,  of  a  cause  that  could 
nrvrr  write  tinis,  all  her  old  passionate  interest  would 
return. 


5i6  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

But  if  they  no  longer  needed  her  ?  She  had  inferred  from 
Ishbel's  cablegram  that  the  Government  was  about  to 
surrender.  But  it  was  hard  to  believe  that  Mr.  Asquith, 
in  any  circumstances,  would  become  a  convert  to  a  revolu 
tion  he  abhorred  and  sincerely  disbelieved  in ;  and  as  for 
Lloyd-George,  the  cleverest  man  in  England,  it  was  far 
more  likely  that  he  was  playing  for  a  long  respite,  hoping  to 
relegate  the  women  quietly  out  of  the  public  eye,  to  take  the 
fight  and  courage  out  of  them  by  degrees,  while  pretending 
sympathy,  promising  his  personal  assistance,  advising 
them  to  abstain  from  demonstrations  which  forbade  the 
Government  to  capitulate  in  a  manner  inconsistent  with 
its  dignity.  Of  course  he  would  succeed  for  a  brief  interval 
only,  for  if  he  was  clever  and  subtle,  the  women  were  as  clever 
-  and  alert ;  but  —  well  —  on  the  other  hand,  did  she 
care?  From  Nevis  England  looked  like  an  old  page  of 
written  history,  shut  up  between  calfskin.  Moreover,  the 
cause  was  bound  to  sweep  on  to  victory  with  its  own 
momentum  —  why  should  she  — 

Her  subtle  brain,  unleashed,  marched  straight  ahead,  and 
in  step  with  her  desires.  How  were  women  to  improve 
the  world,  if  they  progressed  to  that  point  of  superiority 
and  self-completion,  of  unity  in  the  ego,  where  they  could 
no  longer  marry  and  produce  a  worthy  race  to  complete 
their  work  ?  Even  to-day  many  a  high-minded  woman 
went  through  life  unwedded  rather  than  degrade  herself 
in  marriage  with  a  man  whom  she  was  forced  to  admit  her 
inferior  in  all  but  the  common  attraction  of  sex.  But  she 
had  no  such  excuse.  And  if  her  power  to  devote  herself  to 
this  cause,  impersonally  and  wholly,  had  vanished,  with 
her  interest  in  it,  now  that  her  mind  was  recentrcd; 
if  she  must,  did  she  return  to  England,  resent  her  sacrifice, 
possibly  with  hatred,  of  what  use  her  lip  service  ?  If  the 
experience  of  to-day  were  prophetic,  she  could  give  to  the 
work  but  a  hypocritical  shell,  while  her  aching  soul  was  on 
the  other  side  of  the  globe.  On  the  other  hand,  with  Tay, 
even  in  an  alien  land,  there  was  no  question  that  she  might 
be  of  service  for  the  rest  of  her  life. 


FAX  XV  517 

And  what  of  the  immorality  of  loving  a  man  irrevocably 
and  not  living  with  him  ?  Morality  was  still  of  higher 
account  than  politics.  And  children  ?  The  inadequacy  of 
Fanny,  who  almost  repelled  her,  had  renewed  her  intense 
longing  for  children  of  her  own.  And  if  she  so  desired  these 
children,  the  children  of  one  man  out  of  all  the  millions  of 
men  on  earth,  did  not  this  mean  that  they  were  clamoring 
for  their  right  to  live  ?  What  right  hers  to  deny  them,  that 
being,  after  all,  the  first  reason  for  which  she  had  received 
life  herself  ? 

But  at  this  point  she  went  to  bed. 

"What  is  the  use?"  she  thought.  "I'm  going  to  marry 
him,  and  that  is  the  end  of  it.  I'll  not  give  the  matter 
another  thought  from  this  time  forth." 

And  for  the  first  time  since  hej  arrival  on  Nevis  she  slept 
soundly. 


X 

SHE  awoke  at  dawn,  and  rose  at  once,  remembering  that  she 
had  not  had  a  walk  since  leaving  the  ship.  No  wonder  these 
three  long  days  of  bodily  inactivity  and  mental  turmoil  had 
played  havoc  with  her  nerves.  She  would  walk  for  hours 
and  then  return  and  write  to  Tay,  telling  him  that  she  would 
marry  him  on  the  day  the  next  American  steamer  arrived, 
but  begging  him  to  make  no  attempt  to  see  her  until  then. 
It  was  her  duty  to  devote  the  few  intervening  days  to  her 
mother,  as  well  as  to  prepare  her  by  degrees  for  the  stagger 
ing  information  that  she  intended  to  marry  an  American 
and  desert  her  country.  But  if  she  could  convince  ^the 
old  lady  that  the  planets  had  reckoned  with  the  United 
States  of  America,  she  should,  if  not  reconcile  her  to  a  son- 
in-law  of  a  race  she  despised,  at  least  leave  her  with  unbroken 
faith  in  a  science  full  of  compensations. 

She  went  out  to  the  kitchen  and  brewed  herself  a  cup  of 
coffee,  then  started  for  a  brisk  walk  round  the  island.  The 
night's  refreshing  sleep,  the  strong  drink,  the  awakening 
tropic  morning,  the  peace  of  mind  that  follows  a  momentous 
and  final  decision,  made  her  feel  as  if  dancing  on  ether, 
almost  as  happy  as  if  Tay  were  beside  her.  The  sea  was  as 
blue  as  liquid  sapphire,  save  near  the  shore,  where  it  was  as 
green  as  the  beryl  stone.  The  cloud  that  descends  the 
slopes  of  Nevis  at  nightfall  had  rolled  itself  upward  and 
floated  lightly  above  the  cone.  In  the  distance  were  the 
outlines  of  other  islands ;  and  everywhere  the  royal  palms 
with  their  long  bladelike  leaves  rattling  in  the  rising  trade- 
wind  that  gives  lightness  to  Nevis  air  on  the  hottest  day, 
the  bright  green  cane  fields,  the  heavy  dark  groves  of 
banana  trees,  the  lime  and  shaddock  orchards.  Even 
the  ruins  of  the  deserted  old  estates,  splendid  masses  of 
masonry  in  their  day,  a  day  of  coaches,  and  knee-breeches, 
and  gay  brocades,  had  a  new  and  more  pictorial  lease  of 
life,  for  brilliant  foliage  burst  from  every  crevice. 

518 


FANNY  5,9 

The  negroes  began  to  sing  in  the  cane  fields,  women  in 
bright  cotton  frocks,  with  brighter  handkerchiefs  about 
their  heads,  came  from  their  huts  along  the  shore  and  cooked 
in  the  open,  boats  danced  on  the  water.  She  walked  half 
way  round  the  island  and  was  hungry  once  more.  A  little 
black  boy,  tempted  by  a  bit  of  silver,  "skinned"  up  the  slim 
shaft  of  a  tree  and  threw  down  a  young  cocoanut.  She 
refreshed  herself  with  its  "wine"  and  then  started  along 
the  .stretch  of  road  that  passed  Bath  House,  half  hoping  to 
meet  Tay.  In  a  moment  she  heard  the  sound  of  galloping 
hoofs,  eight  at  least,  and  averse  from  meeting  any  one  else, 
hid  behind  a  clump  of  low  palms. 

The  horses  stopped  abruptly,  then  struck  the  road  more 
lightly  as  if  their  riders  had  dismounted.  She  parted  the 
palm  leaves  and  looked  out.  A  man  and  a  maid  appeared 
round  a  bend  of  the  road,  each  leading  a  horse.  The  girl 
took  the  man's  arm  with  a  little  gesture  of  confidence  and 
looked  up  into  his  face,  speaking  rapidly.  The  man  looked 
down  at  her,  smiling,  admiring,  indulgent.  The  girl's 
face  was  flaming  with  nothing  short  of  adoration.  They 
were  Fanny  Edis  and  Daniel  Tay. 

Julia,  feeling  as  if  she  had  received  a  blow  in  the  pit  of  the 
stomach,  sank  limply  to  the  ground  and  stared  out  over 
the  dazzling  sea.  Monscrrat  quivered  in  its  haze,  and  she 
wondered  if  it  were  in  the  throes  of  an  earthquake.  It 
usually  was.  She  remembered  that  Mont  PelSe,  after 
untold  years  of  "death,"  had  suddenly  blown  the  lake 
from  her  summit  and  suffocated  thirty-live  thousand  people 
in  four  minutes.  Would  that  Nevis  would  awake,  pour 
out  her  boiling  lava,  and  extinguish  her  wretched  mortals. 
Julia  beat  her  brow  with  one  of  those  instinctive  gestures 
too  natural  for  the  modern  stage ;  for  perfect  naturalism 
borders  upon  farce. 

Tay—  Fanny.  She  took  it  in  finally.  He  had  fallen  in 
love  with  Fanny,  the  young,  beautiful,  glowing  girl--  What 
was  it  old  Pine  had  called  her  — "volcanic  product"? 
No  doubt  she  was  far  more  beautiful  and  fascinating  than  any 
girl  Tay  had  ever  met,  —  and  quite  different  from  American 


S20  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

girls.  Julia  recalled  many  of  them;  they  had  always 
seemed  to  her  rather  light;  clever  and  charming,  but 
scantily  sexed.  No  wonder  Tay  had  succumbed  to  this 
gorgeous  tropic  flower.  Fanny  might  be  selfish,  soulless, 
brutal,  but  what  man  ever  looked  behind  a  beauty  like  that  ? 
She  was  the  siren  born,  and  men  have  gone  down  before 
sirens  since  the  daughters  of  Eve  came  to  rule  the  earth  and 
laugh  to  scorn  the  god  in  man. 

Julia  felt  quite  sixty.  No  doubt  Tay  had  realized  that 
she  was  all  of  thirty-four  the  moment  he  had  seen  her  beside 
Fanny.  Men  were  always  fools  about  the  mere  youth 
in  woman.  Hadn't  she  noticed  that  years  ago,  before 
she  had  spent  a  week  in  London?  No  wonder  Nature 
made  women  brutal  and  wholly  selfish  during  its  brief  posses 
sion.  Tay  had  loved  her,  oh,  no  doubt  of  that,  but  with 
his  mind,  with  that  greater  half  of  his  being  which  he  had 
shown  her  that  day  in  the  Bavarian  wood ;  but  men  are 
primal  always  and  spiritual  incidentally,  when  they  are 
men  at  all ;  and  her  hold  had  been  a  flimsy  silken  string 
that  had  snapped  the  moment  he  met  this  radiant  mate, 
unspoiled,  untouched,  awaiting  him  on  a  tropical  island. 
He  had  loved  her,  but  he  was  madly  in  love  with  Fanny, 
and  that,  after  all,  was  the  great  passion  mortals  lived  to 
experience,  if  only  because  the  poets  had  taught  them  to 
expect  it.  And  she  — she  must  despise  where  she  had 
almost  worshipped.  How  did  women  survive  the  death 
of  illusions  ?  Material  death  was  something  to  pray  for. 

But  Julia's  brain,  stunned  for  the  first  time  in  its  active 
life,  soon  recovered  its  energies.  She  suddenly  realized 
that  she  did  not  feel  sixty,  no,  not  by  any  means.  She  felt 
very  young  and  very  angry.  A  moment  more  and  she 
sprang  to  her  feet  with  a  cry  of  fury.  She  fancied  she 
heard  her  flame-colored  locks  crackle.  Her  slim  fine 
hands  worked.  They  looked  like  steel  instruments  of 
torture  one  may  see  among  old  relics  of  the  Inquisition. 
What  right  had  this  raw  silly  girl  to  take  her  man  from  her  ? 
Tay  was  hers  and  she  should  have  him.  She  should  hold 
him  to  his  word,  marry  him,  make  him  forget  this  passing 


FANNY  521 

infatuation.  He  would  not  be  long  discovering  that  she 
had  far  more  to  give  him  than  any  callow  girl.  If  not! 
Once  more  her  fingers  opened  and  shut.  Well  for  Fanny 
that  she  was  once  more  on  her  horse  with  a  strong  arm 
beside  her.  Julia's  fingers  were  ready  for  the  slender  stem 
upholding  that  triumphant  arrogant  head.  Fanny ! 
Why,  Fanny  was  a  fool.  She  would  make  Tay  the  most 
miserable  of  men,  understand  not  the  least  of  his  ambi 
tions,  leave  him,  no  doubt,  for  another  the  moment  her 
passion  had  cooled.  He  had  insinuated  that  she  was  a 
born  wanton,  although  he  appeared  to  have  forgotten  this 
virtuous  impression. 

Her  next  impulse  was  to  run  after  Fanny,  denounce  her 
as  a  thief,  a  pirate,  force  her  to  see  the  dishonor  of  her 
conduct.  But  this  impulse  soon  passed,  for  never  would 
she,  Julia  France,  make  a  fool  of  herself,  no,  not  if  they 
laughed  in  her  face.  But  what,  in  heaven's  name,  should 
she  do  ? 

She  peered  out.  The  road  was  clear.  She  darted  across 
it,  and  up  into  a  cane  field.  The  negroes  were  far  away 
by  the  mill.  She  threw  herself  down  in  the  dense  green 
silence  and  wept  a  torrent.  After  all,  what  could  she  do  ? 
She  could  only  recognize  that  she  had  lost  Tay,  the  one 
man  in  the  world  for  her;  she,  who  had  made  herself  so 
much  more  than  mere  woman,  and  to  a  girl  who  was  her 
inferior  in  everything  but  beauty. 

She  wept  stormily  for  her  lost  lover,  for  love,  for  herself. 
Then,  once  more,  she  despised  him.  Why  should  she  regret 
a  man  who  had  proved  himself  weak  and  contemptible? 
Why  indeed  ?  Ask  womankind.  She  did.  The  more  con 
vinced  she  grew  that  she  had  lost  him,  the  more  she  wanted 
him.  She  abhorred  him,  she  loathed  him,  she  had  never 
despised  any  mortal  so  utterly,  and  she  loved  him  several 
thousand  times  more  than  ever. 

She  sat  up  and  dried  her  eyes  viciously.  Why  was  she 
making  a  fright  of  herself?  She  had  always  laughed  at 
women  that  crird  and  spoiled  their  eyes.  He  was  not  yet 
married  to  Fanny.  Why  should  she  not  pretend  to  release 


522  JULIA   FRANCE  AND   HER  TIMES 

him,  then  subtly  reenter  the  lists  and  win  him  again  ?  How 
could  any  girl  survive  in  a  close  contest  with  a  woman 
still  young  and  beautiful,  and  with  experience  and  knowledge 
of  men?  But  she  stirred  uneasily.  She  had  seen  the 
automatic  triumphs  of  girls  more  than  once.  Nature  was 
always  on  their  side. 

She  fell  back  on  the  ground  with  a  sensation  of  despair. 
"Oh,  what  shall  I  do?"  she  thought  in  terror.  "Have  I 
come  to  this  ?  How  shall  I  live  ?  " 

But  she  sat  up  again  in  a  few  moments  and  deliberately 
composed  herself,  ordering  her  powerful  will  to  rise  and 
perform  its  office.  She  must  return  to  the  house  before 
her  mother  sent  servants  in  search  of  her,  and  her  eyes 
must  not  be  red.  Nor  her  hair  look  as  if  she  had  tried  to 
tear  it  out  by  the  roots.  She  took  down  the  braids, 
smoothed  them  with  her  hands,  pinned  them  up,  and  pushed 
the  short  locks  under  her  hat. 

Her  mother.  She  had  risen  to  her  feet,  but  stood  staring 
out  over  the  waving  cane.  Why  had  she  given  Fanny  this 
sudden  liberty,  and  not  three  hours  after  announcing  her 
decision,  with  all  the  force  of  her  obstinate  old  will,  that 
Fanny  should  never  marry,  never  be  permitted  even  to  meet, 
a  young  man  ?  And  why  had  she  insisted  that  Julia  remain 
at  her  side  throughout  her  entire  visit  ?  Never  was  there  a 
less  sentimental  woman.  And  the  conversation  at  the 
dinner-table  last  night?  It  sprang  vividly  from  her 
memory.  She  saw  Fanny's  face,  flushed,  arrogant,  anxious, 
her  aunt's  faint  satiric  smile,  heard  her  covert  words  of 
warning. 

What  a  blind  fool  she  had  been. 

"So,"  she  thought  grimly.  "We  are  all  the  victims  of  a 
plot,  and  one  quite  worthy  of  my  mother.  I  have  been 
managed  as  easily  as  if  I  had  but  a  teaspoonful  of  brains 
in  my  head.  And  so  has  he.  Idiots!  Idiots!"  And 
she  hated  everybody  on  earth. 

She  walked  rapidly  home,  slipped  into  the  house  un 
observed,  bathed  her  eyes,  until  the  outer  signs  of  the  most 
tempestuous  hour  of  her  life  were  obliterated,  powdered 


FANNY  523 

the  black  rings  under  her  eyes,  and  made  a  satisfactory 
appraraiuc  at  the  lunch  table.  Neither  Mrs.  Winstone  nor 
Fanny  was  present.  Mrs.  Edis  talked  of  naught  but 
Suffrage. 

"Great  heaven  !  "  thought  Julia.     "That  I  should  live  to 
hate  the  word!" 


XI 

AFTER  luncheon,  she  told  her  mother  that  the  sun  had 
given  her  a  headache,  and  that  it  was  likely  she  should  bo 
obliged  to  go  to  bed  for  the  rest  of  the  day;  she  had  no 
intention  of  appearing  at  dinner.  Her  own  room  seemed 
the  one  bearable  spot  on  earth,  and  she  was  grateful  that 
it  was  far  from  the  other  bedrooms,  at  the  opposite  end  of 
the  long  house. 

She  locked  her  door,  and  ordered  her  brain  on  duty. 
This  was  no  time  for  throes  —  she  had  the  rest  of  her  life 
to  mourn  and  rage  in  ;  now  was  the  time  to  act  in  a  fashion 
that  should  be  worthy  of  her,  of  all  she  had  tried  to  make 
of  herself,  of  those  three  years  in  India,  of  the  succeeding 
four  when  she  had  risen  so  high  above  the  mere  female. 
She  must  face  with  dignity,  both  in  public  and  in  private, 
whatever  ordeal  still  awaited  her  ;  that  she  owed  to  her 
self  ;  and  the  best  of  all  good  friends  is  pride.  Nor  should 
she  condescend  to  fight  or  scheme  for  a  love  that  had  turned 
from  her,  even  for  a  moment.  If  it  had  turned  once,  it 
would  turn  again.  She  had  always  despised  men  that 
could  be  " managed,"  and  could  imagine  no  happiness  with 
a  man  who  must  inspire  her  with  recurring  contempt. 

If  she  loved  Tay,  it  was  her  part  to  make  him  happy,  not 
to  force  him  into  a  marriage  with  herself  when  he  loved 
another  woman.  Of  course  he  would  insist  upon  keeping 
his  engagement  with  her,  for  he  was  honorable,  and,  no 
doubt,  as  miserable  at  this  moment  as  herself.  But  it  had 
never  entered  her  plans  to  balk  and  torment  the  man  to 
whom  she  had  given  her  love,  and  she  could  force  his  free 
dom  upon  him,  persuade  him  that  her  cause  had  conquered. 
As  for  Fanny,  what  right  had  she  to  assume  that  she  would 
make  him  unhappy?  Were  not  all  girls  brutes?  The 
most  selfish  and  heartless  of  them  often  made  the  best  of 

524 


FANNY  525 

wives  when  they  got  the  man  they  wanted.  No  doubt  all 
that  Fanny  needed  to  become  a  good  woman  was  a  baby. 
The  vision  of  Fanny,  a  placid  domestic  cow,  fat  at  thirty, 
gave  her  comfort. 

When  a  woman  has  made  up  her  mind  to  be  noble,  she 
generally  succeeds,  for  a  time,  at  least ;  she  admires  herself 
in  the  r61e,  and  self-admiration  giveth  much  consolation. 
But  the  duration  of  this  attitude  varies  in  different  people. 
Nobility  as  a  fixed  attitude  of  mind  is  possible  only  to  the 
stupid ;  it  can  find  no  vested  place  in  the  subtle  active 
intellect.  Julia  remained  noble  and  sacrificing  —  even 
unpacking  her  Koran  and  reading  it  diligently  —  until 
precisely  eight  o'clock.  At  that  hour  she  heard  the  rustle 
of  skirts  in  the  corridor,  then  Fanny's  excited  voice  as  she 
knocked  on  her  door 

"Oh,  Julia  !  Julia  !  Look  at  me  !  I'm  dressed  for  the 
party  at  Bath  House.  Please  let  me  in  !" 

Julia  ground  her  teeth.  Her  eyes  emitted  steel  sparks. 
Once  more  her  strong  fingers  opened  and  shut. 

"Run  along,  dear,"  she  managed  to  articulate.  "I 
have  such  a  headache  I  can't  see.  I  know  you  will  be  the 
belle." 

"Oh,  I  know  I  shall !"    Julia  saw  that  triumphant  face 
above  her  best  gown.     "Even  Granny  says  I  look  beautiful 
and  I  can  see  it  for  myself.     I'm  wild  with  excitement  - 
and  so  happy  !" 

This  was  the  last  straw,  but  it  braced  instead  of  break 
ing.  Julia  rose  with  the  fixed  smile  of  one  who  is  walking 
to  the  scaffold,  dignified  to  the  last,  and  opened  the  door. 
There  stood  Fanny,  looking  more  beautiful  than  any  girl 
she  had  ever  seen.  Her  hair  was  dressed  high  for  the  first 
time,  and  in  it  was  a  string  of  her  grandmother's  pearls  and 
a  flaming  hibiscus.  The  floating  white  gown  was  caught 
at  her  breast  with  another  flower,  and  her  neck  and  arms 
and  the  soft  rise  of  her  bust  were  as  white  as  the  cloud  on 
Nevis.  Her  heavy  eyes  were  glittering  with  excitement, 
and  her  cheeks  and  lips  made  the  tropic  flowers  look  old 
and  wilted. 


526  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

"I  have  never  seen  a  girl  as  beautiful  as  you  are,"  said 
Julia,  deliberately,  "and  you  will  certainly  make  all  the 
pretty  girls  from  St.  Kitts  turn  green  with  envy.  I  don't 
believe  there  is  another  West  Indian  girl  with  color.  Of 
course  you  will  be  the  belle,  and  of  many  more  balls.  What 
luck  that  a  British  cruiser  is  here." 

Fanny  smiled,  and  a  slight  sarcastic  inflection,  not 
unlike  her  grandmother's,  sharpened  her  rich  contralto 
voice.  "Well,  if  you  find  me  beautiful,  Julia,  I  must  be. 
And  I  owe  it  all  to  you.  Thank  you  again  for  this  lovely 
frock.  Good  night.  I'll  tell  you  lots  of  things  in  the 
morning."  And  she  lifted  her  head  with  a  movement  that 
would  have  been  fatuous  if  she  had  been  a  few  years  older, 
and  almost  smirked  in  her  proud  satisfaction  with  herself 
and  her  looks,  as  she  sailed  off  for  conquest. 

Julia  flung  the  Koran  across  the  room,  herself  face  down 
ward  on  the  sofa,  and  wondered  how  on  earth  she  was  to 
stand  it.  "If  it  only  were  over  and  they  were  married  and 
gone,"  she  thought.  "Or  if  only  the  Royal  Mail  were  due 
to-morrow  instead  of  eleven  days  hence,  and  I  could  go  ! 
Or  if  I  could  go  out  and  kill  somebody,  or  get  drunk  like  a 
man  !  Passive  endurance  !  That  is  all  the  hell  that  any 
religion  need  promise  us." 

She  lay  for  three  hours  without  moving,  then  heard  the 
clatter  of  a  horse's  hoofs.  A  moment  later  Denny  knocked 
and  handed  her  a  cablegram.  She  opened  it  without 
interest.  It  was  from  Ishbel,  and  informed  her  that  NiVrl 
might  take  the  next  steamer  for  Nevis.  Julia  broke  into 
hysterical  laughter. 

"Is  my  tragedy  becoming  a  farce?  "  she  thought.  "Hut 
not  if  I  can  help  it !" 

She  answered  the  cablegram  at  once,  that  the  messenger 
might  take  it. 

"Tell  Nigel  am  leaving  immediately." 

Then  she  returned  to  her  sofa,  too  indolent  to  go  to  bed, 
and  this  time  exhaustion  gave  her  sleep. 


XII 

SHE  was  awakened  by  the  rattling  of  her  jalousie,  and 
lifted  her  head,  wondering  if  a  storm  were  rising. 

"  Julia  !    Julia  !"  called  an  imperative  voice. 

She  sprang  to  her  feet  and  held  her  breath,  not  believing 
hcr.-elf  awake. 

"Julia!"  This  time  the  voice  was  savage.  "If  you 
don't  come  out,  I'll  break  in.  What  I've  got  to  say  won't 
keep." 

Julia  unfastened  the  jalousie.  Tay  stood  there  in  his 
(\cning  clothes,  and  without  a  hat.  His  face  was  dis- 
ht. 

"Dan!"  gasped  Julia. 

II  put  his  hands  about  her  waist  and  lifted  her  down. 
"Now,"  he  said,  "take  me  to  some  place  where  we  can 
talk,  and  as  far  from  the  house  and  the  gates  as  possible. 
They'll  be  coming  home  presently." 

She  walked  swiftly  down  a  path,  turned  to  the  right,  and 
pushing  aside  the  heavy  growth  from  an  older  path,  long 
nut  of  use,  led  the  way  to  the  ruins  of  a  bath-house-  in  a 
corner  of  the  garden.  It  was  surrounded  by  heavy  palms, 
but  its  pain-less  windows  admitted  the  full  moon's  light. 
Julia  sat  limply  down  on  the  circular  seat  before  the  empty 
pool.  Through  tin  open  doorway  she  could  see  and  hear 
tin-  >ea.  The  moonlight  was  dazzling,  Nevis  having  for- 
Lr»tten  to  shake  out  her  night-robes.  Her  bewildered  mind 
took  note  of  details  while  Tay  walked  back  a  few  steps  to 
make  Mire  they  had  not  been  followed. 

He  came  in  and  stood  before  her. 

"There'-  the  devil  to  pay!"  he  exclaimed.  "Did  you 
i,ret  a  cable  last  Monday  }n 

'   \     k      Didn't   you?" 

"I  did  not.  or  I  >houldn't  be  wanting  to  shoot  myself. 
Dark  promised  to  cable  the  moment  it  happened,  and  only 


528  JULIA  FRANCE   AND   HER   TIMES 

to-night,  half  an  hour  ago,  I  got  a  cable  from  Lady  Dark 
telling  me  that  France  died  last  Monday,  and  that  she  had 
only  just  heard  it.  Confound  Dark!  Talk  about  the 
wrath  of  God.  It's  chain  lightning  compared  to  an  English 
man." 

"No  doubt  the  duke  suppressed  the  notice.  It  would 
be  like  him." 

"It  was  Dark's  business  to  find  out.  I  should  have 
employed  a  detective.  When  a  thing's  to  do,  do  it. 
Well,  here's  the  result!  I've  got  myself  into  the  devil  of 
a  mess  - 

"You've  been  making  love  to  Fanny." 

"I  have  —  or  rather  —  not  been  making  love  from  my 
point  of  view  —  only  she  doesn't  see  it  in  that  light.  I've 
been  flirting  like  the  deuce.  When  I  got  your  note  that 
morning,  I  took  it  for  pure  caprice.  It  seemed  to  me  totally 
without  excuse.  You  had  promised  faithfully  to  meet  me 
every  day.  I  had  not  a  suspicion  of  the  truth.-  Moreover, 
I  had  just  received  cables  from  California  that  stirred  me 
up.  They  couldn't  understand  my  desertion  at  such  a 
moment,  and  no  wonder.  To  be  told  that  I  had  come  here 
for  nothing  —  to  be  coolly  asked  to  wait  a  week  —  to  know 
that  I  had  to  stay  whether  I  would  or  not  —  well,  I  felt 
as  if  hell  had  been  let  loose  inside  of  rne.  Fanny  brought 
the  note  - 

"Fanny!"  Julia  sprang  to  her  feet.  "Fanny?  I 
didn't  give  it  to  her." 

"She  brought  it  all  the  same,  and  she  looked  something 
more  than  ripe  for  a  flirtation,  and  beautiful — " 

"You  have  fallen  in  love  with  her!  I  saw  you  this 
morning." 

"Oh,  you  did?  Well,  you  didn't  see  much.  I  am  not 
in  love  with  her,  but  —  well,  it's  got  to  be  said  —  she's  in 
love  with  me,  or  thinks  she  is.  I  was  treated  to  high 
tragedy  an  hour  since  in  the  garden  of  Bath  House.  I  never 
for  a  moment  thought  she  would  take  the  thing  seriously 
-  have  seen  too  many  summer  flirtations  —  American 
girls  know  exactly  what  that  sort  of  thing  means  —  but 


FANNY  529 

this  girl  might  have  Nevis  inside  of  her.     She  wanied  to 
dope  with  me  to-night  —  threatens  to  drown  herself  — 

"Great  heaven!    What  have  you  done?" 

"I  feel  like  Don  Juan,  of  course,  only  as  it  happens  I 
haven't  made  downright  love  to  her.  I  was  on  the  edge  of 
it  once  or  twice,  she's  so  infernally  pretty,  but,  well,  hang 
it  all,  I'm  in  love  with  you  to  the  limit,  all  the  more  so  that 
you're  not  dead  easy  game.  If  I  hadn't  been,  I'd  have  made 
love  to  her  fast  enough.  But  I  flirted  as  hard  as  I  know 
how,  and  she  took  that  for  love-making,  thought  I  held  back 
because  I  felt  bound  to  you,  and — well — it  was  the  hateful 
things  she  said  about  you  to-night  that  put  me  in  a  rage 
and  made  me  hustle  her  back  into  the  ball-room  and  into 
the  arms  of  one  of  her  other  admirers.  I  had  gone  as  far 
as  I  intended,  and  made  up  my  mind,  not  two  minutes 
before  I  got  Lady  Dark's  cable,  to  go  to  one  of  the  other 
islands  and  wait  for  the  steamer.  When  I  got  that  cable,  of 
course  I  understood.  Now  are  you  properly  repentant? 
Why  in  thunder  didn't  you  tell  me  in  your  note  - 

"Of  course,  I  thought  you  knew  — " 

"Never  take  anything  for  granted  where  there  are  big 
things  at  stake.  But  what  are  we  to  do?  I'm  going  to 
marry  you  to-morrow  evening  at  seven  o'clock  over  in 
Fig  Tree  Church,  but  what  is  to  be  done  with  Fanny  ? 
She's  all  fixed  for  tragedy,  and  there's  no  knowing  just 
what  a  girl  of  that  sort  might  do.  I  don't  care  to  begin  our 
life  with  a  horror.  You  must  take  her  in  hand  to-morrow 
morning  and  talk  her  into  reason.  I  gave  her  to  under 
stand  that  I  didn't  love  her,  but  a  man  has  to  say  a  thing 
of  that  sort  so  decently  that  a  girl  never  believes  him  - 
particularly  a  girl  like  Fanny,  who  has  a  sublime  confidence 
in  herself  I've  never  seen  equalled.  What's  to  be  done? 
What's  to  be  done  ?" 

"Are  you  quite  sure  that  you  love  me,  that  you  haven't 
really  wavered  - 

"Oh,  lord  !     I'm  more  mad  about  you  than  ever." 

"Would  you  have  married  Fanny  if  you  had  met  her 
first?" 

IH 


530  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

"  There's  no  woman  on  earth  I  should  ever  have  wanted 
to  marry  but  you.  Do  you  fancy  a  man  thinks  of  marriage 
with  every  girl  he  puts  in  his  time  with  ?  I've  had  a  dozen 
flirtations  —  as  hard  and  a  good  deal  longer  than  this ; 
and  neither  of  us  the  worse,  I  may  add.  I'm  no  heart- 
breaker.  Our  girls  know  the  game  too  well." 

"If  I  thought  you  were  merely  bent  upon  being  honor 
able - 

"  Julia,  if  I  didn't  love  you,  I'd  tell  you  so.  Do  you 
suppose  I'm  the  man  to  jump  into  matrimony  blindfolded  ? 
I've  seen  too  many  of  my  friends  marry  —  and  divorce 
four  years  later.  I'm  no  candidate  for  the  divorce  court. 
What  I  want  is  a  wife  I  can  love  and  work  with  for  the  rest 
of  my  life.  That  wife  is  you,  or  will  be  this  time  to-morrow 
night.  So  cut  all  that  out  and  set  your  wits  to  work." 

Julia  moved  her  eager  eyes  from  his  face  and  looked  out 
over  the  sea.  She  did  not  speak  for  several  moments,  and 
Tay  saw  her  face  set  and  grow  whiter,  her  eyes  shine  until 
they  looked  like  polished  steel. 

"Leave  Fanny  to  me,"  she  said  finally.  "I'll  dispose  of 
her.  She  will  give  no  further  trouble." 

Tay  stirred  uneasily.  "Oh  —  you  don't  mean—  That 
is  hardly  fair  - 

"Fair?"  asked  Julia,  with  unmitigated  scorn. 

"Couldn't  you  give  her  a  good  womanly  talking-to?" 

"And  what  good  do  you  suppose  that  would  do?  Did 
you  ever  hear  of  love  being  talked  out  of  any  woman  ?" 

"I  know  —  but  you  are  clever  enough  without  that - 
and  after  all  it  isn't  fair.     It's  a  violent  assault  on  per 
sonality  - 

Julia  whirled  about  and  confronted  him  with  blazing 
eyes. 

"Fair?  Fair?"  she  cried.  "And  do  you  suppose  I'd 
think  twice  about  what  is  fair  with  that  treacherous  little 
fool  ?  Do  you  suppose  I  would  let  any  scruple  weigh  a 
feather  with  me  when  the  happiness  of  my  whole  life  is  at 
stake?  If  you  didn't  love  me,  you  could  go  and  I'd  not 
condescend  to  lift  a  finger ;  but  you  do,  you  do,  and  nothing 


FANNY  531 

shall  stand  between  us;  nothing,  I  tell  you!  If  I  could 
have  caught  her  alone  this  morning,  I'd  have  twisted  her 
iurk  and  held  her  under  the  water  until  she  was  dead. 
And  yet  you  imagine  I'd  stop  at  hypnotizing  her?  For 
the  matter  of  that  it  will  be  treating  her  far  better  than 
she  deserves,  for  she  will  practically  have  forgotten  you 
when  I  am  finished  with  her.  She  deserves  to  be  left  here 
in  sackcloth  —  oh,  she's  not  the  sort  that  kills  herself, 
she's  far  too  selfish  and  vain  —  but  she's  noisy  and  stub 
born  and  the  sort  that  calf-love  makes  ungovernable. 
She'd  turn  the  island  upside  down  and  run  to  my  mother 
with  the  story  that  you  had  compromised  her  —  there's 
nothing  she  wouldn't  tell  her.  My  mother  is  a  very  old 
woman.  The  excitement  might  make  her  so  ill  that  I 
should  be  detained  here  for  months.  And  I  won't !  I 
won't !  I'll  leave  this  island  with  you  !  " 

Tay  brought  his  hands  down  on  her  shoulders  and 
gripped  them.  "By  God,  Julia!"  he  said  hoarsely, 
"you  are  the  woman  for  me.  Together  we'll  conquer  the 
earth." 

"Oh,  you'll  find  me  useful  to  you  in  many  ways  you  barely 
su>pect  now.  I  can  do  more  than  hypnotize !  But  I 
don't  wish  you  to  misunderstand  me.  What  I  do  to  Fanny 
will  be  nothing  more  than  the  reputable  scientific  psycho 
therapy  utists  do  every  day  to  their  patients.  I  shall  give 
her  an  immediate  suggestion  that  her  will  shall  not  be 
weakened,  that  >he  shall  no  longer  be  under  my  control 
after  i-oming  out  of  the  hypnotic  trance.  And  as  I  said 
before,  she  will  benefit  equally  with  ourselves.  We  don't 
practise  black  magic,  we  initiates ;  not  that  we  are  above  it, 
but  because  we  don't  dare.  It  rebounds  like  an  arrow  and 
strikes  our  greater  powers  dead.  I  never  have  harmed 
any  one  and  I  never  shall,  but  that  leaves  an  enormous 
field  for  action." 

>od.  And  she'd  not  think  of  going  to  Bath  Home 
1><  lore  tomorrow  niirht.  She  heard  me  accept  an  invita 
tion  to  lumli  on  hoard  the  cruiser.  By  the  way,  you  ir.i.L'ht 
plant  in  that  ill-regulated  head  the  suggestion'  that  she 


532  JULIA  FRANCE  AND   HER   TIMES 

be   less   anxious   to  fall  in  love.      There  are  men  of  all 
sorts  - 

"That  would  be  unfair,  if  you  like  !  Our  impulses  are 
our  birthright.  To  alter  personality  would  be  unjust, 
almost  criminal,  for  the  impulses  that  make  a  fool  or  worse 
of  us  in  certain  circumstances  may  be  necessary  for  our 
happiness.  Fanny  must  work  out  her  own  destiny.  I 
shall  settle  my  income  from  France's  estate  on  her,  and 
induce  Aunt  Maria  to  take  charge  of  her  as  far  as  Eng 
land.  There  Ishbel  will  introduce  her—" 

"That's  right!11  interrupted  Tay,  viciously.  "Turn  her 
loose  on  Dark.  Serve  him  right." 

"Dark  is  the  best-managed  man  in  England.  Fanny'll 
not  get  a  chance  at  him.  And  she'll  have  a  husband 
before  the  season  is  over." 

"Good.  But  are  you  dead  sure  you  can  do  it?  You 
failed  with  me,  you  know." 

"Because  I  hated  to  do  it,  and  because  —  well,  you  are 
you.  But  Fanny  !  To-morrow  she'll  be  sleepy  and  stupid 
from  the  excitement  of  to-night,  and  she  will  eat  an  enor 
mous  lunch,  as  she  always  does.  She  is  curious  about 
India.  I'll  interest  her  in  that  subject  at  the  table  and 
then  invite  her  to  my  room,  and  interest  her  more.  She's 
never  heard  of  hypnosis.  I'll  offer  to  put  her  to  sleep. 
She'll  consent,  not  only  because  she's  worn  out,  and  yet 
too  excited  and  disturbed  for  sleep,  but  because  I  choose 
that  she  shall.  I'll  tell  her  to  fix  her  eyes  on  mine,  and  the 
moment  she  does  that  she's  lost.  In  just  three  minutes 
she'll  be  a  lump  of  wax.  Now,  are  you  satisfied  ?  Why, 
if  I  had  the  least  misgiving,  I'd  summon  Hadji  Sadra." 

Tay  laughed.  "Oh,  Julia!  Julia!  You're  all  right. 
Now  listen  to  me.  To-morrow  I  shall  take  out  a  special 
license  - 

"I'd  rather  you  waited  until  just  before  we  sail.  My 
mother  - 

"Don't  expect  me  to  show  any  concern  for  your  mother. 
She's  at  the  bottom  of  all  this  trouble.  She  set  Fanny 
on  me.  I  had  already  begun  to  suspect  it  before  your  aunt 


FANNY  53,> 

let  it  out  —  I  have  had  more  than  one  scene  to-night ! 
I  feel  sure  she  saw  us  together  the  day  I  called  at  the  house ; 
at  all  events  she  got  on  to  the  facts.  I  didn't  suspect  this 
earlier  because  I  hadn't  really  believed  that  she  had  kept 
Fanny  so  close  —  girls  are  always  working  on  a  man's 
sympathies.  Otherwise  I  shouldn't  have  fallen  for  it. 
Now,  to  continue.  I  shall  marry  you  to-morrow.  You 
will  meet  me  at  Fig  Tree  Church  at  seven  o'clock.  Hardly 
any  one  is  abroad  at  that  hour.  You  can  keep  it  from  your 
mother  until  we  are  about  to  sail,  if  you  choose.  That  is 
all  one  to  me.  But  111  take  no  more  chances.  Now  give 
me  your  hands  and  say  that  nothing  on  God's  earth  shall 
prevent  you  from  coming  to  Fig  Tree  Church  to-morrow 
evening  at  seven  o'clock." 

Julia  gave  him  her  hands.     "I'll  be  there,"  she  said. 
"I,  too,  shall  take  no  more  chances." 


GERTRUDE  ATHERTON'S  OTHER  BOOKS 
Tower  of  Ivory  a**. 

44  Mrs.  Atherton  is  the  ablest  woman  writer  of  fiction  now  living,  and  this 
k  will  more  than  sustain  the  high  reputation  of  her  previous  writings." 
—  Sir  Robertson  XicoU. 


The  Conqueroi 


Chtkt 


44  A  composite  yet  a  splendid  picture."  —  New  York  Iferald. 
44  A  fascinating  picture  of  the  life  of  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  should  be 
read   by  every  one   of  taste  and  intelligence  .  .  .  enthusiastically  and 
imaginatively  romantic."  —  Xew  England  Magazine. 

Hamilton's  Letters 

Illustrated,  cloth,  izmo,  $1.30 

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respondence  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  to  the  average  reader  for  thejirst 
time  the  means  of  estimating  Hamilton  s  personality  from  his  words. 
"  Vivacity,  energy,  an  indomitable  will,  unbounded  confidence  in  himself 
ami  his  abilities,  pride,  power,  passion,  extraordinarily  clear  fort-sight,  — 
these,  together  with  many  engaging  qualities,  come  out  so  strongly  through 
these  letters  that  they  soon  make  the  man  real."  —  Boston  Herald. 

The  Splendid  Idle  Forties 

Cloth,  i2mo,  $1.50 

"They  are  strong  and  interesting  with  the  gay,  brilliant,  picturesque 
interest  of  that  romantic  period  when  life  in  the  Southern  California 
towns  was  more  theatrical,  more  like  grand  opera  performances,  than 
anything  our  busy  commonplace,  practical  civilization  nowadays  knows 
anything  about."  —  Philadelphia  Telegraph. 

The  Californians  a*.  „*.*,#, 

"  There  can  !>•  >n  as  to  the  cleverness  of  this  book.    The  char 

acters  stand  out  with  sharp  distinct  ivenrs»  and  act  as  if  they  were  tran- 
>m  life  rather  than  the  creations  of  a  prolific  and  well-ordered 
imagination.  There  are  admirable  bits  of  description,  proofs  of  a  keenly 
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Patience  Sparhawk  and  Her  Times 

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A  NEW  DANBY  NOVEL 

Joseph  in  Jeopardy 

BY  "FRANK  DANBY" 

Author  of  "The  Heart  of  a  Child,"  "Sebastian,"  etc. 

Cloth,  $1.35  net ;  postpaid, 

This  clever  and  humorous  story  of  a  brilliant  young 
man  exposed  to  subtle  temptations,  surpasses  the 
versatile  author's  previous  successes,  "  Pigs  in 
Clover,"  "  The  Heart  of  a  Child,"  etc. 

WHAT   LEADING   REVIEWERS   SAY 

"Finished  workmanship  .  .  .  unflagging  interest  .  .  .  far  and  away  the 
best  novel  Mrs.  Frankau  has  written."  —  New  York  Tribune. 

"  The  book  is  remarkable.  .  .  .  We  prefer  it  over  any  previous  work 
from  the  same  pen."  —  New  York  World. 

"  She  can  paint  a  masterpiece  .  .  .  and  has  done  so  in  the  present 
novel."  —  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 

"Thrilling  love  passages  and  a  good  exposition  of  character  —  a  full 
book  for  grown  men  and  women."  —  Kentucky  Post. 

"Amos  Juxton  is  portrayed  with  an  uncommon  sense  of  the  comic 
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tion."  —  The  New  York  Times. 


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